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University  of  California 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


OF 


EVARTS  W.  FARR, 

(A    REPRESENTATIVE    FROM    NEW    HAMPSHIRE,) 


DELIVERED  IN   THE 

us, 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  AND  IN  THE  SENATE, 
FORTY-SIXTH  CONGRESS,  THIRD  SESSION. 


PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  CONGRESS. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT     PRINTING      OFFICE. 

188  i. 


JOINT  RESOLUTION  to  provide  for  the  publication  of  the  memorial  addresses  on  EVARTS 

W.  FARR. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of  Amer 
ica  in  Congress  assembled,  That  there  be  printed  twelve  thousand  copies  of  the 
memorial  addresses  delivered  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  upon  the 
life  and  character  of  Honorable  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  late  a  Representative  from  the 
State  of  New  Hampshire,  together  with  a  portrait  of  the  deceased;  nine  thousand 
copies  thereof  for  the  use  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  three  thousand 
copies  for  the  use  of  the  Senate.  And  a  sum  sufficient  to  defray  the  expense  of 
preparing  and  printing  the  portrait  of  the  deceased  for  the  publication  herein  pro 
vided  for  is  hereby  appropriated  out  of  any  moneys  in  the  Treasury  not  otherwise 
appropriated. 

Approved,  March  3,  1881. 


ADDRESSES 

ON   THE 


DEATH  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR. 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  HOUSE. 


DECEMBER  6,  1880. 

Mr.  BRIGGS.  Mr.  Speaker,  it  becomes  my  painful  duty  to  announce 
the  death  of  my  late  colleague,  Hon.  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  and  I  desire 
to  present  the  following  resolutions  in  connection  therewith.  I  wish 
also  to  give  notice  that  at  some  future  day  I  will  ask  to  present  the 
customary  resolutions,  in  order  that  appropriate  remarks  may  be 
heard  in  relation  to  the  life  and  services  of  the  deceased. 

The  SPEAKER.  The  resolutions  proposed  by  the  gentleman  from 
New  Hampshire  will  be  read. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  this  House  has  heard  with  sincere  regret  the  an 
nouncement  of  the  death  of  Hon.  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  late  a  Repre 
sentative  from  the  State  of  New  Hampshire,  and  a  member-elect  to 
the  Forty-seventh  Congress  from  said  State. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  the  House  be  directed  to  communicate 
the  foregoing  resolution  to  the  Senate. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  deceased  this 
House  do  now  adjourn. 

The  resolutions  were  agreed  to;  and  accordingly  the  House  ad 
journed. 


PROCEEDINGS    IN   THE    HOUSE. 


DECEMBER  22,  1880. 

Mr.  UPDEGRAFF,  of  Ohio.  I  have  a  resolution  from  the  Committee 
on  Invalid  Pensions,  which  I  ask  permission  to  submit  at  this  time. 
The  SPEAKER.  The  resolution  will  be  read. 
The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Whereas  the  Committee  on  Invalid  Pensions  desires  to  place  upon 
its  record  its  appreciation  of  the  kindly  qualities  and  faithful  labors 
of  their  late  member,  Hon.  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  of  New  Hampshire; 
and 

Whereas  its  members  wish  to  express  their  regret  and  sympathy  to 
the  country,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire,  and  to  the  bereaved  family 
of  the  deceased  in  a  worthy  and  substantial  manner:  Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  House  be  requested  to  make  the  customary  ap 
propriation  of  the  balance  of  the  salary  which  would  be  due  to  him 
as  a  member  of  the  Forty-sixth  Congress;  and  that  the  next  Con 
gress,  to  which  he  was  elected,  be  respectfully  requested  to  make  a 
similar  appropriation  of  the  salary  which  would  have  been  due  to 
him  as  a  member  of  the  Forty-seventh  Congress. 

The  SPEAKER.  What  disposition  does  the  gentleman  desire  to  make 
of  the  resolution  ? 

Mr.  UPDEGRAFF,  of  Ohio.  I  desire  to  have  it  considered. 

The  SPEAKER.  The  Chair  would  suggest  that  action  upon  it  would 
be  facilitated  by  reference  to  the  proper  committee,  the  Committee 
on  Appropriations. 

Mr.  UPDEGRAFF,  of  Ohio.  Very  well.  I  will  move  that  it  be  re 
ferred  to  that  committee. 

The  resolution  was  referred  accordingly. 


PROCEEDINGS    IN   THE    HOUSE. 


FEBRUARY  i,  1881. 

Mr.  MORSE.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  ask  consent  at  this  time  to  introduce 
a  resolution  touching  the  funeral  expenses  of  the  late  Representa 
tive  from  New  Hampshire,  Hon.  EVARTS  W.  FARR. 

The  SPEAKER.  The  resolution  will  be  read. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  there  be  paid  out  of  the  contingent  fund  of  the 
House  a  sum  sufficient  to  pay  the  necessary  funeral  expenses  of  Hon. 
EVARTS  W.  FARR,  late  a  Representative  from  the  State  of  New 
Hampshire. 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to. 


FEBRUARY  18,  1881. 

Mr.  ATKINS,  from  the  Committee  on  Appropriations,  reported  the 
following  preamble  and  resolution : 

Whereas  the  Committee  on  Invalid  Pensions  desire  to  place  upon 
its  record  its  appreciation  of  the  kindly  qualities  and  faithful  labors 
of  their  late  member,  Hon.  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  of  New  Hampshire; 
and 

Whereas  its  members  wish  to  express  their  regret  and  sympathy  to 
the  country,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire,  and  to  the  bereaved  family 
of  the  deceased  in  a  worthy  and  satisfactory  manner:  Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  House  be  requested  to  make  the  customary  ap 
propriation  of  the  balance  of  the  salary  which  would  be  due  to  him 
as  a  member  of  the  Forty-sixth  Congress;  and  that  the  next  Con 
gress,  to  which  he  was  elected,  be  respectfully  requested  to  make  an 
appropriation  of  six  thousand  dollars,  in  lieu  of  the  entire  salary 
which  would  have  been  due  to  him  as  a  member  of  the  Forty-seventh 
Congress. 

The  resolution  was  adopted. 


ADDRESS    OF    MR.    BRIGGS    ON   THE 


ADDRESS  OF  JA.R.  BRIGGS,  OF  NEW  j^AMPSHIRE. 

^EBRUARV  8,    1881. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  I  desire  to  submit  the  following  resolutions. 
The  SPEAKER.     The  resolutions  will  be  read. 
The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  this  House  has  heard  with  profound  sorrow  the  an 
nouncement  of  the  death  of  Hon.  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  late  a  Repre 
sentative  from  the  State  of  New  Hampshire. 

Resolved,  That  in  token  of  regard  for  the  memory  of  the  lamented 
deceased  the  members  of  this  House  do  wear  the  usual  badge  of 
mourning  for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  this  House  do  communicate  these 
resolutions  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the 
deceased  this  House  now  adjourn. 

Mr.  BRIGGS.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  rise  to  perform  the  melancholy  duty 
of  announcing  to  this  House  the  death  of  my  colleague,  EVARTS  W. 
FARR,  which  occurred  at  his  home  in  Littleton  on  the  3oth  of  Novem 
ber  last.  It  was  my  sad  privilege  to  be  with  him  when  he  passed 
away.  He  died  as  he  had  lived,  with  the  heroism  of  a  noble  man 
hood  born  of  hope  and  faith. 

It  is  no  vain  tribute  of  respect  New  Hampshire  would  fain  pay  to 
her  noble  and  gallant  son.  As  a  member  of  this  House,  I  submit  he 
was  universally  respected  both  by  political  friends  and  foes.  But  it 
is  not  merely  an  excellent  Representative  at  the  National  Capitol 
that  New  Hampshire  mourns  in  the  death  of  Major  FARR.  Among 
those  who  pressed  eagerly  to  the  front  when  an  imperiled  nation 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF    EVARTS   W.    FARR. 


called  her  sons  to  her  rescue,  this  man  was  the  pride  of  our  State,  and 
under  the  flag  with  which  we  draped  that  hearse  at  Littleton  he 
earned  the  imperishable  gratitude  of  our  people. 

EVARTS  W.  FARR  was  born  at  Littleton  on  the  loth  of  October, 
1840.  He  belonged  to  one  of  the  best  families  of  our  State.  His 
father,  an  honored  member  of  the  legal  profession,  survives  him.  Mr. 
FARR  was  one  of  eight  children,  and  his  early  advantages  were  those 
of  the  typical  New  England  country  lad.  He  pursued  his  academic 
course  at  Thetford,  Vermont,  where  he  was  graduated  with  honors, 
and  went  thence  to  college.  Frank,  earnest,  and  intelligent,  the  char 
acter  of  the  boy  gave  true  promise  of  the  man.  What  might  have 
been  hts  fortune  had  he  been  permitted  quietly  to  pursue  his  studies, 
we  cannot  tell.  Destiny  had  assigned  him  a  part  in  a  stupendous 
drama,  which  was  to  startle  Christendom.  In  that  drama  he  per 
formed  his  part  gloriously  and  well;  and  like  many  other  young 
Americans  of  that  eventful  period,  he  leaped  to  distinction  before  he 
had  reached  the  age  of  manhood. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  young  FARR  was  a  member  of  Dart 
mouth  College.  With  characteristic  decision,  he  turned  his  back 
upon  college  and  his  face  to  the  field.  He  was  the  first  man  to  enter 
the  service  from  the  town  of  Littleton,  from  which  he  enlisted  in  the 
First  New  Hampshire  Volunteers.  He  served  continuously  from  April 
20,  1861,  to  June  4,  1865. 

Soon  after  he  entered  the  service  he  joined  the  New  Hampshire 
Second;  was  appointed  a  lieutenant  June  4,  1861 ;  he  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  captain  January  i,  1862,  and  while  in  command  of 
company  G  lost  his  right  arm  at  the  battle  of  Williamsburgh,  Virginia, 
May  5.  1862.  His  regiment,  one  of  the  most  gallant  and  distin 
guished  in  the  service,  was  then  one  of  the  four  constituting  General 
Hooker's  original  brigade. 

As  soon  as  his  wound  permitted  he  returned  to  the  field,  and  Sep 
tember  9,  1862.  was  promoted  to  rank  of  major  in  the  Ne\v  Hamp- 


ADDRESS   OF    MR.    BRIGGS   ON   THE 


shire  Eleventh.  After  righting  with  distinguished  gallantry  at  Fred- 
ericksburgh,  Major  FARR  went  with  his  regiment  to  the  West,  and 
participated  in  the  siege  and  capture  of  Vicksburgh.  After  the  capt 
ure  he  went  South  with  General  Sherman  to  attack  General  John 
ston  at  Jackson,  Mississippi,  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  war 
served  on  court-martial  duty,  most  of  the  time  as  judge-advocate. 

Unquestionably  his  employment  on  court-martial  duty  during  all 
the  latter  part  of  the  war  alone  prevented  his  high  promotion  in  the 
line.  As  it  was,  his  career  as  a  soldier  was  an  exceptionally  brill 
iant  and  successful  one.  In  many  of  the  severest  engagements  of  the 
war  he  won  golden  laurels.  In  the  action  at  Fredericksburgh  it  was 
my  fortune  to  be  near  him,  and  no  veteran  of  a  hundred  battles  could 
have  shown  a  statelier,  loftier  heroism.  There  was  a  touch  of  chiv 
alry  in  his  nature,  and  he  was  then  of  the  age  when  this  spirit  is  at 
high  tide.  His  patriotism  was  not  lost  in  the  effervescent  spirit  of  the 
cavalier;  he  had  devotion  as  well  as  courage.  Nor  was  his  courage 
of  that  lower  order,  derived  from  excitement.  It  had  nothing  t'o  do 
with  rashness  nor  frenzy.  He  was  cool,  patient,  and  determined.  It 
was  the  courage  of  Ney  rather  than  that  of  Murat.  In  the  fiercest 
and  most  disheartening  fight  he  was  never  known  to  lose  his  self- 
command.  This,  with  his  quick  decision  and  soldierly  intuition,  com 
bined  to  make  him  a  man  of  wonderful  resources.  In  action  or  in 
any  grave  and  responsible  situation  he  never  was  "  at  his  wit's  end." 

Another  trait  of  a  great  soldier  was  his  fortitude,  his  power  of  en 
durance.  "  No  pain,"  writes  an  officer  who  was  long  and  most  inti 
mate  with  him,  "no  pain  that  he  suffered  could  bring  a  moan,  no  toil 
he  encountered  could  dismay  him,  the  longest  and  hardest  march  we 
ever  made  could  not  bring  a  word  of  complaint  from  his  lips." 

In  the  fight  between  Hooker's  and  Longstreet's  divisions  at  Will- 
iamsburgh,  FARR'S  coolness  and  endurance  came  out  in  full  flower. 
The  fight  was  close,  hot,  and  prolonged  to  the  verge  of  human  en 
durance.  It  rained  hard,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  men  were  terrible. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR. 


FARR  seemed  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  a  multitude.  He  demeaned 
himself  through  that  weary,  bloody  day  in  a  manner  never  to  be  for 
gotten  by  those  to  whom  it  was  known.  His  valor  was  equaled  only 
by  his  equanimity.  Only  breaking  ranks,  only  the  signs  of  yielding, 
could  provoke  his  impatience.  Just  at  the  close  of  that  terrible  day 
he  received  the  shot  which  made  his  empty  sleeve  thenceforth  his 
badge  of  honor. 

What  a  tell-tale  thing  is  an  empty  sleeve. 

#  »  #  # 

It  tells  in  a  silent  tone  to  all, 

Of  a  country's  need,  and  a  country's  call, 

Of  a  kiss  and  a  tear  for  child  and  wife, 

And  a  hurried  march  for  a  nation's  life : 

It  tells  of  a  battle-field  of  gore, 

Of  the  saber's  clash,  of  the  cannon's  roar, 

Of  the  deadly  charge,  of  the  bugle's  note, 

Of  a  gurgling  sound  in  a  freeman's  throat, 

Of  the  whizzing  grape,  of  the  fiery  shell, 

Of  a  scene  which  mimics  the  scenes  of  hell; 

Though  it  points  to  a  myriad  wounds  and  scars, 

Yet  it  tells  that  a  flag  of  stripes  and  stars, 

In  God's  own  chosen  time  will  take, 

Each  place  of  the  rag  with  the  rattle-snake ; 

And  it  points  to  a  time  when  that  flag  will  wave, 

O'er  a  land  where  there  breathes  no  cowering  slave. 

Till  this  very  hour,  who  could  ere  believe, 

What  a  tell-tale  thing  is  an  empty  sleeve, 

What  a  weird,  queer  thing,  is  an  empty,  sleeve. 

• 

His  tastes  were  essentially  military,  and  he  brought  to  his  duties  in 
the  field  that  energy  and  fixedness  of  purpose  which  characterized 
the  man  in  all  he  undertook.  He  mastered  the  science  of  the  camp 
and  field  in  an  incredibly  short  time,  and,  young  as  he  was,  became 
a  recognized  authority  therein.  He  was  a  strict  disciplinarian,  thor 
ough  and  exact  in  all  his  duties,  and  requiring  the  same  of  others. 
But  he  was  full  of  considerate  kindness  to  his  men,  to  whom  he  en 
deared  himself  as  the  friend  of  all. 


2  FR 


10  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    BRIGGS   ON   THE 

Prompt,  brave,  and  responsible,  he  was  ever  at  the  post  of  duty; 
and  in  those  evil  days  there  marched  not  under  the  flag  a  hero  of 
more  dauntless  courage,  a  devotee  of  more  unfaltering  faith  than 
EVARTS  W.  FARR. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  embraced  the  profession  of  the  law  and 
at  once  became  one  of  the  most  promising  members  of  the  New 
Hampshire  bar.  An  ardent  and  stirring  Republican,  he  also  came 
early  to  the  front  in  the  politics  of  our  State.  He  held,  successively, 
the  positions  of  assistant  assessor  and  assessor  of  his  internal-revenue 
district,  solicitor  of  Grafton  County,  and  a  member  of  the  governor's 
council.  To  the  latter  position  he  was  handsomely  elected  in  a  dis 
trict  which  had  always  been  strongly  Democratic;  and  in  this,  as  later, 
in  his  two  Congressional  canvasses,  his  popularity  was  abundantly 
demonstrated.  He  did  credit  to  every  place  he  held,  and  his  elec 
tion  to  the  Forty-sixth,  and  his  re-election  to  the  Forty-seventh  Con 
gress,  were  only  in  the  natural  course  of  his  ascendant  fortune.  Of 
his  career  in  this  House,  so  sadly  and  so  early  closed,  I  will  not  speak. 
That  I  leave  to  others.  His  record  is  familiar  to  you  all.  Is  it  not 
one  of  promise  ? 

His  memory  long  will  live,  alone 

In  all  our  hearts,  as  mournful  light 
That  broods  above  the  fallen  sun, 

And  dwells  in  heaven  half  the  night. 

Pf  the  character  of  the  deceased  I  propose  to  offer  few  words  other 
than  those  I  have  already  spoken.  His  was  an  open,  generous,  san 
guine,  earnest  nature — such  an  one  as  "he  who  runs  may  read." 
Were  I  fully  to  express  my  own  admiration  for  the  man,  I  should  be 
suspected  of  intemperate  speech.  My  acquaintance  with  him  began 
in  the  Army,  where  we  were  comrades  together,  and  from  that  time 
our  friendship  was  fast.  He  was  instinct  with  generous  and  kindly 
impulses  which  endeared  him  to  his  friends  and  bound  them  to  him 
in  bonds  of  the  strongest  affection.  Naturally  in  such  a  character 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   EVARTS   W.    FARR. 


there  was  that  which  inspired  his  foes  with  respect,  and  however  he 
might  dislike,  no  man  could  despise  EVARTS  W.  FARR. 

Like  all  of  us,  the  man  had  his  faults;  yet  he  had  no  prominent 
defects,  and  I  never  knew  a  man  whose  faults  counted  for  less  as 
against  the  general  strength  and  purity  of  his  character.  I  have  had 
much  to  say  of  his  earnestness,  for  this  I  conceive  was  the  leading 
factor  of  his  strength.  He  was  ready  to  take  up  any  duty  that  lay 
before  him,  and  to  attack  it  with  firm  and  sincere  purpose.  He  fol 
lowed  a  purpose  with  his  whole  soul  and  did  nothing  by  halves.  This 
element  of  his  character,  together  with  his  versatility,  implied  large 
possibilities.  He  was  a  young  man,  and  with  length  of  days  must  have 
accomplished  that  of  which  all  that  he  had  done  was  but  a  hint.  On 
the  whole,  his  character  was  solid,  well  rounded,  and  symmetrical;  with 
out  grotesque  or  brilliant  eccentricities,  he  was  a  very  positive  force. 

The  immediate  cause  of  his  death  was  a  sudden  and  violent  at 
tack  of  typhoid  pneumonia.  Overwork  had  induced  extreme  debility, 
and  his  system  had  little  power  of  resistance.  His  general  health 
had  been  blighted  in  the  Army,  and  his  empty  sleeve  was  not  the 
only  sad  remembrance,  not  the  only  legacy  of  woe  that  he  brought 
back  from  southern  fields.  A  post-mortem  examination  disclosed 
the  presence  of  chronic  disease,  which,  at  best,  must  ere  long  have 
proved  fatal. 

In  his  domestic  relations  he  commanded  the  strongest  affection. 
We  will  not  lift  the  veil  from  that  circle  of  crushed  hearts.  There  is 
that  which  should  be  respected.  There  is  a  supreme  sorrow,  as  one 
day — 

There  was  dole  in  Astolat. 

Major  FARR  was  a  great  favorite  in  our  State,  and  his  name  will  be 
set  among  those  whom  New  Hampshire  delighted  to  honor.  He 
was  a  most  gallant  soldier,  a  promising  young  statesman,  and  a  noble, 
sincere  man.  We  bespeak  your  respect  for  his  memory  as  some 
thing  we  shall  proudly  and  gratefully  cherish. 


12  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    BLAND    ON   THE 


ADDRESS     OF     yV\R.      J3LAND,      OF     ^MISSOURI. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  Death  has  again  visited  these  gilded  walls  and 
removed  from  our  Chamber  one  of  our  most  worthy  and  useful 
members.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  give  a  history  of  the  deceased, 
but  I  shall  confine  myself  to  a  few  outlines  that  marked  his  life. 
Major  EVARTS  W.  FARR  was  born  at  Littleton,  New  Hampshire, 
October  10,  1840.  We  learn  that  at  the  early  age  of  twelve  he 
struck  out  for  himself,  and  by  industry  and  hard  toil  procured  the 
means  for  his  livelihood  and  education.  He  graduated  at  Thetford 
(Vermont)  Academy,  and  entered  Dartmouth  College  with  the  class 
of  1863.  But  that  patriotic  ardor  and  devotion  to  his  country  and 
to  duty  that  always  characterized  him  caused  him  to  leave  college 
and  volunteer  as  a  soldier  in  the  Union  Army.  He  enlisted  in  1861. 
For  his  bravery  he  was  promoted  through  various  grades  to  the  rank 
of  major.  While  with  Fighting  Joe  Hooker's  brigade  he  lost  his  right 
arm  in  the  battle  of  Williamsburgh,  in  May,  1862.  Notwithstanding 
the  loss  of  his  arm  by  amputation  he  continued  in  the  Army,  and 
served  with  a  major's  commission,  participating  in  the  battles  of 
Vicksburgh  and  Jackson,  Mississippi,  and  various  other  engagements, 
until  he  was  appointed  judge-advocate,  the  duties  of  which  office  he 
performed  with  marked  distinction.  After  the  war  was  over  he  com 
menced  the  practice  of  law  at  his  home  in  New  Hampshire.  As  a 
soldier  Major  FARR  was  courageous,  true  to  his  country,  never  falter 
ing  where  duty  called.  To  his  soldiers  he  was  kind  and  considerate, 
though  exacting  in  the  performance  of  every  command. 

Mr.  Speaker,  it  was  not  rny  fortune  to  know  Major  FARR  person 
ally  till  I  met  him  in  the  Committee  on  Pensions.  I  shall  never 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER   OF    EVARTS   W.    FARR. 


forget  the  first  time  I  met  him  in  committee-room.  The  chairman 
called  over  the  names  of  the- committee  for  reports.  None  were 
ready  except  Major  FARR.  When  his  name  was  called  he  brought 
forward  a  large  list  of  bills  with  accompanying  papers  and  his  reports. 
He  began  sorting  out  his  reports  dexterously  with  one  hand.  I  then 
for  the  first  time  noticed  he  had  lost  his  right  arm;  but  it  seemed  to 
me  that  this  was  no  embarrassment  to  him,  for  he  selected  his  reports 
from  other  papers  with  as  much  apparent  ease  and  facility  as  though 
he  was  using  both  hands.  He  read  his  reports  to  the  committee,  and 
they  were  all  adopted  unanimously. 

I  was  struck  with  his  familiarity  with  the  pension  laws,  the  rulings 
of  the  Pension  Department,  and  the  concise  manner  in  which  he 
stated  the  laws  and  the  facts  bearing  on  each  case.  I  never  knew 
one  of  his  reports  to  be  rejected  or  anywise  amended  by  the  commit 
tee.  His  judgment  was  clear  and  logical.  He  was  always  careful 
of  the  interests  of  the  public;  but,  while  at  all  times  diligent  in  pro 
tecting  the  Government,  he  never  permitted  technical  questions  of 
law  to  weigh  against  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  an  equitable  and 
meritorious  case.  His  justice  was  always  "  tempered  with  mercy." 
At  times  it  was  difficult  to  secure  a  quorum  for  business;  several 
members  of  the  committee  were  not  regular  in  attendance.  Not  so 
with  Major  FARR;  he  was  always  prompt  in  attendance,  and  never 
behind  with  his  reports. 

From  my  acquaintance  with  him  I  was  led  to  highly  respect  him 
as  a  man  of  sterling  integrity,  of  ripe  judgment,  and  great  industry. 
I  think  I  may  truly  say  his  abilities  were  far  beyond  the  average. 
He  was  serving  his  first  term  in  Congress,  and  his  modesty,  the 
insignia  of  true  merit,  forbade  him  entering  the  arena  of  every-day 
debate  and  wrangle,  a  means  by  which  too  many  endeavor  to  thrust 
themselves  in  the  Record  and  before  the  public  at  the  expense  of 
orderly  and  intelligent  legislation.  But  he  never  faltered  in  the  dis 
charge  of  his  duty  when  he  saw  it  necessary  to  attack  a  bad  measure 


14  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    BLAND   ON   THE 

or  sustain  a  good  one.  Major  FARR  was  a  close  attendant  upon  the 
sessions  of  the  House.  He  was  seldom  out  of  his  seat.  He  was 
watchful  of  all  the  proceedings  of  legislation.  He  seemed  to  com 
prehend  instinctively  all  that  was  proposed  for  action,  and  his  judg 
ment  as  to  the  right  or  wrong  of  a  measure  was  seldom  at  fault.  I 
differed  with  him  politically,  but  I  am  sure  he  acted  with  his  party 
from  as  sincere  convictions  as  I  did  with  mine.  There  was  no  mem 
ber  of  the  Forty-sixth  Congress  whom  I  respected  more  highly  than 
him.  If  I  were  called  upon  to  give  my  measure  of  the  man,  I  should 
say  that  clear  judgment,  a  high  sense  of  honor,  an  inflexible  will  were 
his  peculiar  characteristics.  He  was  also  a  man  of  generous  and 
noble  impulses. 

Mr.  Speaker,  this  occasion  brings  to  us  the  solemn  thought  of  death, 
of  the  uncertainties  of  all  human  aims,  and  the  end  of  our  ambition. 
Man,  like  a  shadow,  gropes  for  a  while  in  the  gloom  of  earth  and 
vanishes.  The  dark  cloud  glitters  for  a  moment  in  the  lightning's 
glare;  the  thunderbolt  signalizes  the  approaching  storm.  The  cloud 
drenches  the  earth  with  torrents  that  rush  headlong  down  to  the 
eternal  sea.  The  thunder's  roar  dies  away  in  soft  echoes  along  the 
distant  hills.  The  cloud  melts  away  beneath  the  effulgence  of  the 
noonday's  sun.  Thus  the  whirl  of  life  is  spent  and  passes  into  eter 
nity.  Man  may  dominate  the  earth,  but  it  was  given  to  One  alone 
to  conquer  death. 

We  stand  here  to-day,  and  the  words  that  fall  from  our  lips  are 
licked  up  with  the  tongue  of  electric  fire  and  whispered  in  the  ears 
of  all  nations. 

We  span  continents  with  iron  girders  and  bridge  them  with  the 
commerce  of  the  world.  We  measure  the  depths  of  the  sea,  the 
breadth  of  rivers,  and  the  distances  and  magnitude  of  the  heavenly 
bodies.  We  predict  with  mathematical  precision  the  course  and 
velocity  of  planets,  the  visit,  exit,  and  return  of  comets.  Yet,  sir, 
with  all  this  power  over  earth  and  its  surroundings  \ve  cannot  tell  the 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   EVARTS    W.    FARR.  15 

day  nor  hour  of  our  existence,  for  death  "  cometh  as  a  thief  in  the 
night." 

Leaves  have  their  time  to  fall, 
And  flowers  to  wither  at  the  North  wind's  breath, 

And  stars  to  set;  but  all, 
Thou  hast  all  seasons  for  thine  own,  0  death ! 

Happy  for  us  we  cannot  foretell  his  coming.  Our  adjournment  at 
the  last  session  would  have  been  sorrowful  indeed  had  we  known 
that  on  our  reassembling  one  seat  here  would  have  thus  been  made 
vacant.  Our  grief  was  wisely  spared  us  to  this  last  moment.  Yet, 
when  we  see  a  man  thus  cut  down  in  the  prime  of  life,  when  the 
dreams  of  his  early  ambition  were  being  realized,  we  are  tempted  to 
complain  at  what  would  seem  to  be  a  harsh  visitation  of  Providence. 
But,  Mr.  Speaker,  death  waits  for  no  one.  The  justice  and  wisdom 
of  an  all-wise  God  are  far  beyond  human  ken.  To  His  will  we 
meekly  bow;  to  his  commiserations  and  tender  mercies  we  commend 
the  stricken  widow  and  children  of  our  friend. 

EVARTS  W.  FARR  is  no  more.  His  mortal  remains  rest  beneath 
the  snow-mantled  sod  of  his  native  State. 

There  shall  the  yew  her  sable  branches  spread, 
And  mournful  cypress  rear  her  fringed  head  ; 
From  thence  shall  thyme  and  myrtle  send  perfume, 
And  laurel  ever  green  o'ershade  the  tomb. 

How  unspeakably  sad  it  would  be  to  close  our  tribute  to  our  friend 
here.  Can  we  have  the  heart  to  consign  him  to  the  cold  clay  of 
mother  earth,  and  there  leave  him  as  food  for  the  worms  ?  O  no ! 
no !  The  blessed  hope  of  immortality  forbids  it. 

Let  earth  dissolve,  yon  ponderous  orb  descend 
And  grind  us  into  dust;  the  soul  is  safe; 
The  man  emerges,  mounts  above  the  wreck 
As  towering  flame  from  nature's  funeral  pyre. 


1 6  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    BOWMAN    ON   THE 


ADDRESS     OF     ^AlR.     BOWMAN,      OF     ^MASSACHUSETTS. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  It  is  fitting  that  we  should  turn  aside  for  a  time 
from  the  business  of  the  session,  from  our  political  contests  and 
wrangles,  from  the  heated  discussion  of  disputed  questions,  from  all 
the  turmoil  and  noise  and  labors  of  Congressional  life,  and  offer  up 
our  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  our  deceased  friend  and 
brother  member,  and  place  upon  perpetual  record  our  recognition 
and  appreciation  of  his  character  and  services.  It  is  the  last  thing 
we  can  do  for  him.  For  him  all  the  petty  ambitions  of  life,  the 
struggle  for  honorable  distinction,  the  cares  and  troubles  and  disap 
pointments  which  beset  the  life  of  every  man  who  devotes  it  to 
services  in  high  position  for  his  country,  the  carping  and  unjust  criti 
cisms  of  opponents,  the  life  of  work  and  worry — all  these,  which  are 
a  part  of  the  lot  of  every  public  man  lifted  up  into  a  position  where 
he  can  become  the  target  of  press  or  person,  are  over  for  our  dead 
friend,  and  can  trouble  him  no  more  in  that  better  life  of  never- 
ending  rest  and  peace  to  which  he  has  gone. 

After  life's  fitful  fever  he  sleeps  well. 

He  passed  away  from  an  honorable  and  eventful  life,  and,  although 
comparatively  young  in  years,  no  one  can  feel  that  that  life  was  not 
rounded  out  into  full  completeness,  or  mourn  on  his  account  that  it 
has  ended,  although  our  sympathies  go  out  to  those  near  and  dear  to 
him,  who  lament  his  loss.  All  those  who  knew  him,  both  in  private 
and  in  his  public  career,  realize  that  his  State,  his  constituency,  and 
his  friends  will  miss  his  presence  and  the  useful  and  honorable  place 
which  he  occupied  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

His  duty  in  life,  his  obligations  to  his  country  and  his  people,  had 
been  honorably  and  nobly  performed,  and  it  is  perhaps  a  fortunate 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR.         17 

and  happy  fate  for  a  man  to  pass  away  from  this  world  in  the  height 
of  his  powers,  in  honorable  position  gained  by  faithful  service  for  his 
fellow-men  and  by  their  appreciation  of  his  worth,  deeply  regretted 
and  lamented  by  them,  rather  than  in  the  "sere  and  yellow  leaf"  of 
old  age,  with  faculties  impaired  and  powers  of  usefulness  gone,  so 
that  as  one  sinks  beneath  the  waters  of  life,  he  leaves  scarcely  a 
ripple  behind. 

Judged  by  what  he  was  and  what  he  had  done  no  one  can  call  the 
life  of  our  friend  a  short  one;  nay,  more,  upon  the  calendar  of  events 
and  marked  by  them  alone  his  was  a  life  longer  by  far  than  many  a 
one  of  fourscore  years  and  ten.  His  life  has  been  described  by  his 
colleague,  who  has  preceded  me ;  it  is  not  for  me  to  refer  to  it  in 
detail,  or  to  the  examples  of  heroism  and  devotion  to  country  which 
it  displays. 

From  among  the  quiet  and  beautiful  hills  of  the  Granite  State  he 
went  forth  to  battle  for  his  country,  and  there  has  come  to  us  from 
his  comrades  the  touching  story  of  his  heroism,  manliness,  and  devo 
tion  to  the  cause  for  which  he  was  ready  to  sacrifice  his  life,  and  for 
which  he  probably  has  sacrificed  his  life  as  much  as  if  he  had  in 
reality  given  it  up  from  musket-ball  or  bayonet  thrust  on  the  field 
of  battle.  We  know  how  early  in  the  war  he  lost  his  arm,  which  was 
taken  off  at  the  shoulder,  and  how  when  for  most  men  this  would 
have  been  considered,  and  rightly  considered,  as  an  excuse  from 
further  service,  and  to  have  entitled  them  without  further  work  and 
dangers  to  the  honors  and  gratitude  of  their  countrymen,  he  again  left 
his  home  among  the  White  Hills  and  went  to  the  far  southern  coun 
try  to  once  more  endure  the  hardships,  trials,  and  dangers  of  military 
life.  He  had  well  earned  the  reward  of  rest  from  military  labors 
and  of  escape  from  its  dangers — earned  it  at  sad  cost — but  he  refused 
to  accept  that  reward,  counting  life  or  loss  of  limb,  suffering,  and 
privation  and  danger  as  nothing,  if  he  could  serve  his  country. 

From  all  that  I  have  seen  and  known  of  him;  from  what  I  have 


1 8  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    BOWMAN   ON   THE 

known  of  his  life  here  and  have  heard  of  it  as  it  was  spent  at  his 
home  among  the  New  Hampshire  mountains  both  before  and  after 
his  military  experience,  I  cannot  but  regard  him  as  one  of  those  mar 
tyrs  of  the  war  who  have  really  given  up  their  lives  for  their  country. 
The  strong,  vigorous,  and  rugged  New  Hampshire  boy,  reared  in  the 
bracing  mountain  air,  where  the  very  breezes  are  laden  with  strength 
and  vitality,  leading  the  healthy  and  hearty  outdoor  life  of  the  coun 
try,  came  back  from  the  wars  weakened  and  with  his  vitality  sapped 
by  enervating  climate  or  deadly  miasms  or  the  vital  waste  caused 
by  hardship,  privation,  and  toil. 

Many  a  soldier  gave  up  his  life  on  the  field  of  battle  by  stroke  of 
sword,  or  met  an  immediate  and  therefore  merciful  and  happy  death 
by  rifle-bullet  or  cannon-ball,  and  we  honor  them,  and  never  can 
honor  them  too  much,  as  men  who  died  for  their  country;  and  we 
place  above  their  graves  the  old  but  never  worn-out  legend  that  "  It 
is  sweet  and  beautiful  to  die  for  one's  country,"  and  shall  hold  them 
in  grateful  remembrance  through  all  the  ages. 

There  was  many  and  many  a  soldier  who  left  behind  him  on  south 
ern  battle-fields  or  in  southern  swamps,  when  he  came  marching 
home  after  the  war  under  triumphant  flags,  the  better  part  of  his  life, 
a  vitality  and  strength  so  weakened  and  sapped  that  no  cool  northern 
breezes  and  no  fond  attentions  of  home  could  restore  them,  and  who 
brought  back  with  him  the  seeds  of  disease  and  weakness,  so  that 
nevermore  could  he  know  the  delights  of  health  and  the  mere"  pleas 
ure  of  living,  but  always  his  life  must  be,  if  not  a  burden  to  him,  yet 
something  to  be  careful  of,  to  be  watched  and  guarded,  and  thus 
keeping  him  back  from  all  that  he  would  be  or  do.  Many  a  life  has 
thus  dragged  itself  along  through  weary  years  since  the  war  and  has 
prematurely  ended,  when,  so  far  as  human  minds  can  foresee,  it  might 
have  had  before  it  many  years  of  active  and  happy  usefulness. 
These  men  were  as  truly  the  martyrs  of  the  war  as  those  who  had 
the  perhaps  happier  fate  of  meeting  a  short  and  sharp  shrift  on  the 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR.         19 

field  of  battle.  For  the  one  was  the  excitement,  the  honor,  the 
glory,  the  swift  passing  away  of  life  without  suffering  and  without 
knowledge;  for  the  other,  the  long  and  weary  years,  the  patient  en 
durance,  the  uncomplaining  words,  the  cheerful  acquiescence  in  a 
life  whose  high  capabilities  he  could  not  improve,  and  that  feeling  of 
limitation  of  powers  and  of  his  chance  to  make  the  most  of  his  life 
which  want  of  strength  and  endurance  always  brings,  and  then  an 
early  and  premature  death,  when  perhaps  the  promise  of  future  use 
fulness  and  advancement,  the  hopes  of  being  most  useful  to  himself 
and  family  and  friends  and  country,  are  at  the  brightest. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  life  of  our  friend  was  thus  hampered 
and  bound  in  by  the  strong  bonds  of  bodily  weakness  so  that  he 
could  not  make  the  most  of  it,  and  did  not  achieve  high  and  honorable 
distinction  which  any  man  might  well  be  proud  of,  but  I  believe  that 
the  causes  of  his  death  lie  in  his  services  in  the  war,  and  that,  so  far 
as  men  can  judge  of  what  cannot  be  seen  or  known,  many  years  of 
honor  and  of  usefulness  would  now  be  before  him  if  it  had  not  been 
for  what  he  sacrificed  and  did  for  his  country.  His  record  as  a 
soldier,  a  statesman,  and  a  citizen  is  a  most  honorable  one. 

My  acquaintance  with  him  commenced  with  the  present  Congress, 
to  which  we  both  of  us  came  as  new  membejs,  and,  living  near  each 
other  here,  our  acquaintance  ripened  into  intimacy  and  friendship.  I 
am  sure  that  no  one  came  into  close  contact  with  him  or  to  really 
know  him  who  did  not  feel  for  him  respect  and  affection.  Quiet  and 
undemonstrative  in  his  manners,  not  given  to  self-assertion  or  to 
show,  not  thrusting  himself  forward  before  the  people,  but  content 
to  remain  quietly  in  the  background  unless  he  was  needed  and  could 
do  good  at  the  front,  the  unthinking  and  careless  world,  judging  only 
by  the  exterior  and  not  caring  to  penetrate  below  the  outer  surface, 
might  underrate  him  and  not  give  to  him  credit  for  the  qualities 
which  he  possessed;  but  behind  his  quiet  manners  there  was  a  brave 
heart,  an  honest  mind  and  purpose,  deep  and  settled  convictions  of 


ADDRESS   OF    MR.    BOWMAN    ON   THE 


right,  which  no  plausible  arguments  or  specious  reasons  could  disturb. 
I  think  one  of  the  distinguishing  traits  of  his  character  was  his  hatred 

of  shams  and  false  pretensions,  whether  in  public  or  private  life,  in 

• 
humble  or  in  official  station;  his  desire  to  go  to  the  root  of  a  matter, 

and  to  find  out  the  right  and  the  true  thing;  his  dislike  of  the  thin 
veneers  and  disguises  plastered  over  political  or  personal  iniquities, 
wrongs,  or  injustice;  his  wish  to  call  things  by  their  right  names  and 
to  have  the  world  call  them  by  their  right  names  and  recognize  them 
as  they  were;  in  a  word,  his  desire  for  the  truth,  however  disagree 
able,  unpleasant,  or  humiliating. 

He  was  honest  in  conviction  and  word  and  action.  The  same 
desire  to  uphold  the  right  which  led  him  from  his  northern  hills,  and 
to  give  up  all  the  comforts  of  home  and  to  make  sacrifices  of  health 
and  limb,  followed  him  into  his  public  service  here;  and  in  these 
Halls  he  always  sought  by  word  and  vote  to  do  what  he  thought  to 
be  the  right  thing,  and  the  honest,  true,  and  therefore  the  best  thing 
for  the  people  and  the  country.  The  best  policy  is  almost  always  no 
policy;  but  doing  just  the  right  thing  and  letting  policies  and  the 
future  take  care  of  themselves,  sooner  or  later  the  right  triumphs,  and 
we  find  that  the  unselfish  policy  of  doing  what  is  right  without  regard 
to  consequences  turns  out  to  be  the  wisest  as  well  as  best  policy. 

Our  friend  was  a  man  of  strong  convictions,  earnest  purposes,  and 
of  excellent  judgment,  forming  his  opinions  with  care,  and  skilled  in 
giving  utterance  to  them  when  the  occasion  required.  Honest  and 
incorruptible,  earnest  and  industrious,  interested  in  all  the  great  ques 
tions  of  the  day,  faithful  in  attending  to  his  duties  here  and  elsewhere; 
a  good  man,  a  good  soldier,  a  good  statesman,  pure  in  private  life 
and  in  public  life,  such  is  his  record,  and  such  is  the  description  and 
the  memorial  of  him  which  we  can  place  upon  our  records.  Happy 
is  he  who  is  thus  laid  to  rest  with  his  life's  warfare  accomplished, 
and  with  the  feeling  in  the  hereafter  that  he  has  fought  the  good  fight 
and  has  passed  away  loved,  honored,  and  respected. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR.         21 

We  followed  him  to  his  last  resting-place  amid  the  snows  of  the 
beautiful  valley  which  had  always  been  his  home.  It  seemed  as  if 
the  whole  population  had  gathered  together  to  honor  him  in  his  death 
even  as  they  had  honored  him  in  his  life;  to  offer  up  the  last  tribute 
of  respect  which  they  could  ever  pay  to  him ;  to  perform  for  him  the 
last  sad  services  which  they  could  ever  render.  The  affectionate 
words  of  remembrance,  the  tearful  eyes,  the  faltering  accents,  the  sad 
faces,  all  showed  that  our  friend  had  as  deep  and  warm  a  place  in  the 
hearts  and  affections  of  the  people  to  whom  he  belonged  as  in  their 
honor  and  respect. 

They  gathered  in  great  throngs  to  accompany  in  its  last  journey 
all  that  was  left  here  below  of  our  friend;  to  listen  in  the  village 
church  to  the  words  of  consolation  and  of  praise  of  him  who  had 
gone  out  from  among  them  never  to  return,  and  to  find  a  sad  solace 
in  the  recital  and  remembrance  of  his  virtues  and  of  his  life  among 
them  from  his  boyhood  to  his  death.  And  so  almost  under  the 
shadow  of  Mount  Washington  and  the  Franconia  range  we  laid  him 
to  rest  amid  the  scenes  which  he  loved  so  well,  where  the  grand  and 
majestic  mountains,  whitened  to  their  summits  with  the  snows  of 
winter,  look  down  upon  his  grave,  and  where  in  summer  the  ever 
lasting  hills  whose  granite  summits  pierce  the  sky  keep  watch  and 
ward  over  the  beautiful  green  valley  where  he  has  found  his  last  rest 
ing-place.  

ADDRESS    OF     MR.    UPDEGRAFF,    OF    OHIO. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  To  me  it  is  a  mournful  pleasure  to  add  my  heart- 
deep  tribute  of  veneration  and  love  to  what  has  already  been  so 
fittingly  said  in  memory  of  our  departed  comrade.  I  shall  avoid  all 
extravagance  of  eulogy.  The  noble  and  manly  character  of  EVARTS 
W.  FARR  would  be  marred  by  any  unreal  adornment.  And  yet  it  is 
well  for  his  living  associates,  so  soon  to  follow,  to  bear  testimony  to  the 
worth  and  exalted  character  of  him  whose  memory  to-day  we  honor. 


22  ADDRESS  OF  MR.  UPDEGRAFF  ON  THE 

Even  in  the  rush  of  crowding  duties  here  a  moment's  pause  by 
the  bier  of  a  fallen  comrade  is  not  an  idle  ceremony.  It  is  wise 
and  well  that  for  a  little  time  at  least  party  conflicts,  and  even  the 
tumult  of  needful  interests,  should  be  hushed  in  such  a  presence.  In 
that  stillness  are  heard  the  truer  voices,  and  to  that  vantage  ground 
come  purer  air  and  glimpses  of  a  serener  sky.  Partisanship  is  hushed, 
and  the  inspiration  of  generous  comradeship  strengthens  the  ties  which 
should  bind  associated  men  in  amenity  and  mutual  trust.  Amid  our 
party  antagonisms  and  fierce  rivalries  the  fraternal  intercourse  and 
warm  friendships,  to  which  that  middle  isle  is  no  barrier,  not  only 
redeem  the  sordid  littlenesses  of  life  but  ennoble  true  manhood. 

My  acquaintance  and  intercourse  with  EVARTS  W.  FARR  are  among 
the  tenderest  and  most  treasured  recollections  of  this  eventful  Con 
gress.  In  the  early  days  of  its  first  session  we  formed  an  acquaint 
ance  which  soon  grew  into  a  warm  friendship.  Serving  on  the  same 
committee,  I  had  opportunity  to  know  and  admire  the  many  noble 
traits  of  his  character.  His  colleague  has  already  tenderly  and 
eloquently  told  the  story  of  his  eventful  life — his  early  struggles,  his 
later  triumphs,  the  confidence  and  love  of  his  people — and  paid  just 
tribute  to  his  domestic  virtues  and  recognized  abilities. 

Coming  of  sturdy  New  England  families,  EVARTS  W.  FARR'S  life 
attested  the  maxim  that  "  the  blood  of  descent  is  the  prophecy  of 
destiny."  He  was  a  type  of  the  region  from  which  he  sprang,  and 
of  the  intelligent  and  appreciative  constituency  which  had  laid  upon 
him  the  honors  he  so  modestly  accepted  and  the  duties  he  so  faith 
fully  discharged.  In  that  section  of  our  country  education  is  univer 
sal,  labor  is  justly  honored,  property  is  largely  distributed,  and  no 
where  operate  more  fully  all  the  great  formative  forces  which  make 
character,  develop  intellectual  and  moral  elements,  and  mold  nation 
alities.  Hence,  that  section,  since  the  foundation  of  our  Government, 
has  been  represented  in  this  body  mainly  by  men  of  native  strength 
and  sound  learning,  practical  sense,  and  healthy  patriotism — men 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF    EVARTS    W.    FARR.  23 

both  in  mind  and  character  self-poised  and  symmetrical — the  natural 
outgrowth  of  such  surroundings  and  such  conditions. 

One  of  the  profoudest  thinkers  of  this  age  has  wisely  said : 

The  deeper  you  study  history  the  surer  you  find  the  truly  great  men  and  their 
eras  like  threads  interwoven  in  the  tissue  of  the  whole  successive  history  of  their 
race  or  nation.  There  is  yet  Miltiades  in  the  atmosphere  we  breathe  in  this  coun 
try,  and  there  is  Alfred  in  our  daily  doings. 

And  thus  New  England  not  only  founded  a  distinctive  nationalism 
within  her  own  borders,  but  awakening  latent  forces,  voicing  the 
vague  but  irrepressible  longings  of  the  times,  and  organizing  the 
formative  elements  of  a  broader  future,  has  added  impelling  power 
to  our  growth,  influenced  our  history,  and  being  largely  in  sympathy 
with  the  progressive  principle  which  in  a  free  country  passes  from 
conscience  to  laws  and  institutions  with  irresistible  force,  has  power 
fully  aided  our  national  struggle  into  institutional  existence  and  per 
manence,  and  now  these  expanding  elements  are  as  much  a  part  of 
our  national  life  as  Warren  and  Adams  and  Webster  are  part  of  our 
national  history. 

These  reflections  suggest  themselves  here  because  a  typical  out 
growth  of  these  New  England  conditions  and  these  distinctive  forces 
was  EVARTS  W.  FARR.  His  colleague  has  spoken  of  him  as  a  stu 
dent,  a  soldier,  and  a  citizen.  How  characteristic  and  how  touching 
that  patriotic  devotion  of  the  boy  scholar  turning  resolutely  away 
from  academic  honors  to  the  hardships  and  perils  of  the  camp  and 
field  the  very  hour  he  knew  his  country  needed  him.  No  wonder  he 
bore  himself  so  bravely  and  so  grandly  through  all  that  awful  conflict. 
The  nobility  of  his  nature  recognized  faithfulness  to  duty  as  his 
supreme  guide,  so  that  even  after  he  had  lost  his  right  arm  at  Will- 
iamsburgh  he  joined  his  regiment  before  the  wound  was  fully  healed, 
and  with  an  intrepid  valor  which  no  danger  daunted,  no  suffering 
subdued,  no  defeat  disheartened,  he  remained  in  active  service  till  in 
his  shattered  frame  were  fixed  the  seeds  of  disease  which  finally  un- 


24  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    UPDEGRAFF   ON   THE 

dermined  the  citadel  of  life.     While  his  country  needed  his  services 
he  refused  to  care  for  his  own  health  or  safety.    Indeed,  he  seemed  to 

value  life  itself 

But  as  he  served  or  saved  the  state. 

I  shall  never  forget  his  look  or  words  as  he  replied  to  me  one  day 
as  to  the  loss  of  his  arm.  With  the  light  of  conscious  triumph  in  his 
eyes,  he  said  in  a  deep,  soft  whisper,  "  No;  it  is  less  than  I  had 
expected  to  give  my  country."  Ah,  the  light  of  eternity  alone  can 
reveal  the  awful  sacrifices  made — willingly,  proudly  made — to  -our 
imperiled  nation ! 

And  though  so  modest  as  to  his  own  claims  to  honor  and  so  un 
selfish  as  to  his  own  demands,  he  was  intensely  sensitive  to  the  needs 
of  his  soldier  comrades  and  deeply  indignant  at  the  wanton  neglect 
of  their  long-deferred  appeals  for  hearing  and  justice.  Carefully  and 
laboriously  he  examined  the  pension  claims  before  that  committee, 
and  urged  those  which  were  just  and  meritorious  with  an  honest  zeal 
which  stood  amazed  when  he  found  it  impossible  to  obtain  for  them 
the  attention  of  Congress. 

His  last  recorded  words  in  this  House,  near  the  close  of  last  session, 
were  an  eloquent  plea  that  the  soldiers  of  our  country  who  had  just 
claims,  not  only  for  hearing  but  for  help,  should  no  longer  be  neg 
lected,  and  that  the  one  day  in  each  week  dedicated  by  our  rules  to 
such  claims  should  not  be,  as  it  had  been,  constantly  taken  for  other 
business.  His  was  the  completeness  of  integrity — the  very  chivalry 
of  justice.  And  to  him  it  very  naturally  seemed  that  there  could  be 
no  duty  so  imperative,  no  obligation  so  urgent,  no  work  so  welcome, 
to  the  agents  of  the  Government  or  the  elected  servants  of  the  peo 
ple,  as  to  mete  out  just  if  not  generous  recognition  to  the  deserving 
soldiers  of  our  country,  many  of  whom  are  in  dire  need,  helpless, 
suffering,  but  still  the  same  men  whose  once  stalwart  arms  upbore  the 
dear  old  flag  and  whose  bodies  bridged  the  awful  chasm  over  which 
the  nation  marched  to  victory  and  peace. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR.         25 

A  striking  trait  of  Major  FARR'S  character  was  his  modesty.  Con 
scious  of  honest,  faithful  service,  eager  only  for  duty,  he  had  no 
hunger  for  mere  notoriety,  and  sought  no  personal  advertisement. 
Even  when  fully  prepared  on  a  subject,  he  was  wont  to  urge  others 
to  take  the  floor — a  rare  unobtrusiveness.  Indeed,  his  quiet,  earnest 
work  was  for  a  purpose  and  not  for  effect,  and  seemed  perpetually  to 
embody  the  spirit  of  the  Persian  proverb — 

Words  are  the  children  of  the  wind;  deeds  are  the  daughters  of  the  soul. 

Absolute  honesty  and  truthfulness  were  among  the  impressive 
characteristics  of  his  nature.  Not  mere  commercial  honesty,  but 
truthfulness  absolute  and  honesty  in  the  highest  sense  of  that  much- 
embracing  and  grand  old  Roman  word.  Wellington,  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  just  after  the  sudden  death  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  in  speaking 
to  his  memory,  praised  above  all  his  "  truthfulness,"  an  honor  alike 
to  the  great  statesman  who  merited  it  and  to  the  great  soldier  who 
so  fitly  valued  it.  Well  may  we  all  remember  that  the  gratitude  and 
love  of  peoples  follow  only  those  who,  in  the  service  of  their  country, 
lay  unstained  hands 

Upon  the  ark 
Of  her  magnificent  and  awful  cause. 

The  generous  nature  of  our  associate  was  full  of  magnanimity. 
Though  intensely  loyal  and  patriotic,  though  maimed  in  body  and 
broken  in  health  in  the  service  of  his  country  during  the  war  of  the 
rebellion,  he  bore  no  bitterness  and  no  resentment.  The  magnanimity 
of  hit  soul  sought  to  embrace  every  citizen  of  our  country  in  the 
bonds  of  conciliation  and  brotherhood,  and  his  broad  patriotism  rec 
ognized  in  every  State  and  every  section  parts  of  an  indissoluble 
national  unity. 

One  of  the.  youngest  members  of  this  body,  no  man  would  have 
selected  EVARTS  W.  FARR  as  the  first  who  should  break  our  circle. 
He  was  in  the  very  morning  of  his  usefulness  and  power.  The 


4  FR 


26  ADDRESS  OF  MR.  UPDEGRAFF  ON  THE 

dreams  of  youth  were  becoming  realities,  and  with  iron  will  and 
brave  heart  he  was  shaping  them  into  beneficence  and  fame.  In  the 
midst  of  youth  and  ambition  unfulfilled  he  has  left  us. 

The  ancient  Northmen's  image  of  death  is  less  repulsive  and  more 
Christian  than  that  of  Christian  countries.  No  skeleton,  but  a  gigan 
tic  figure  that  envelops  men  in  the  massive  fold  of  his  dark  robes. 
But  whatever  the  symbol,  whatever  the  promise  of  youth  or  the  ripe 
ness  of  age,  death  is  always  sudden  and  solemn.  He  sends  no  herald 
and  awaits  no  delay. 

We  know  when  moons  shall  wane, 
When  summer  birds  from  far  shall  cross  the  sea, 

When  autumn's  hue  shall  tinge  the  golden  grain ; 
But  who  shall  teach  us  when  to  look  for  thee  ? 

Yet  to  the  soul  prepared  it  matters  not.  The  "  well  done  "  is  the 
crown  of  life.  So  long  as  a  man  dwells  on  earth  life  is  but  a  frag 
ment.  But  the  close  may  seal  the  work  with  the  benediction  of 
changeless  fruition.  The  career  finished  in  honor  and  radiant  with 
faith  becomes  a  completed  power  and  an  everlasting  possession. 

May  those  of  us  who  are  left  to  speak  and  hear  the  tributes  of  this 
august  and  sad  observance  to  our  beloved  associate  take  heed  and 
ponder  the  lesson  it  emphasizes.  May  we  so  live  and  act  that  some 
thing  of  the  good  said  of  him  to-day  may  be  as  truly  said  of  us,  and 
that  death  shall  be  to  us  indeed  the  crown  and  vestibule  of  life. 

The  name  and  fame  of  EVARTS  W.  FARR  live  to  his  family,  his 
State,  his  country.  He  was  a  good  citizen,  a  brave  soldier,  a  faithful 
legislator,  a  true  man.  Works  of  loving  purpose  and  noble  ambition 
beautified  a  life  round  which  will  forever  cluster  tender  and  holy 
memories.  Warm  with  the  affections  and  wise  with  the  aspirations 
which  take  hold  of  the  life  beyond,  faith  lends  the  light  which  clouds 
cannot  hide  nor  shadows  dim. 

In  the  bosom  of  his  beloved  New  Hampshire,  amid  the  wild 
beauty  of  his  native  valley  by  the  Ammonoosuc  he  sleeps,  borne  to 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF    EVARTS   W.    FARR.  27 

his  last  rest  by  the  loving  hands  of  the  grand  old  fraternities  of  which 
he  was  an  honored  member.  Mount  Washington,  in  cloud-crowned 
grandeur,  stands  silent  sentinel  above  his  grave.  It  shall  perish.  He 

shall  live. 

He  has  done  the  work  of  a  true  man ; 

Crown  him,  honor  him,  love  him; 
Weep  over  him  tears  of  women ; 

Stoop  manliest  brows  above  him. 
For  the  warmest  of  hearts  is  frozen, 

The  freest  of  hands  is  still, 
And  the  gap  in  our  picked  and  chosen 

The  long  years  may  not  fill. 


ADDRESS    OF      M.R.    J3HALLENBERGER,    OF    ^ENNSYLVANIA. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  I  do  not  rise  to  occupy  the  attention  of  the  House 
with  any  formal  eulogy  of  my  comrade,  colleague,  and  friend. 
Others  who  knew  him  intimately  and  well  have  given  the  particulars 
of  his  life  and  the  analysis  of  his  character  and  record  in  eloquent 
and  fitting  terms.  It  was  not  my  privilege  to  know  him  until  we  met 
in  the  extra  session  of  the  Forty-sixth  Congress  which  is  now  draw 
ing  to  a  close.  I  had  not  the  intimacy  that  grows  out  of  association 
on  committees,  nor  were  we  often  thrown  together  in  social  gather 
ings.  But  it  was  our  fortune  to  sit  near  each  other  on  the  floor  of 
the  House.  An  acquaintance  was  readily  formed.  His  age,  which 
was  nearly  my  own,  his  empty  sleeve,  and  his  Army  record  soon 
drew  me  toward  him.  I  could  not  fail  to  observe  his  conduct  and 
his  votes  during  his  brief  service  as  a  Representative. 

At  the  request  of  his  colleague,  in  charge  of  these  memorial  reso 
lutions,  and  in  justice  to  my  own  feelings,  I  very  cheerfully  place  on 
record  in  a  few  simple  words  my  profound  respect  for  the  memory  of 
my  deceased  friend.  His  life  was  neither  long  nor  eventful  to  a  de 
gree  that  justifies  very  general  recognition  and  extended  eulogy.  I 


28          ADDRESS  OF  MR.  SHALLENBERGER  ON  THE 

greatly  mistake  the  character  and  taste  of  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  if  liv 
ing  he  would  have  enjoyed  unmeasured  praise.  He  was  a  man  of 
intelligence,  of  quick  perceptions,  of  wonderful  industry  and  fidelity, 
of  rare  courage  in  upholding  his  convictions,  and  of  transparent  hon 
esty  of  purpose.  He  was  a  student  of  books  and  a  student  of  men. 
He  gave  himself  unreservedly  to  the  work  that  he  undertook.  Never 
absent  from  his  seat  unless  from  necessity,  he  kept  himself  informed 
of  the  procedure  of  business  and  the  merits  of  pending  legislation. 
He  was  industrious  in  committee,  attentive  to  his  constituency,  and 
extremely  anxious  to  inform  himself  as  to  the  best  methods  of  serv 
ing  his  country  at  large  as  well  as  the  State  he  in  part  represented. 
He  was  an  earnest  and  uncompromising  partisan  in  the  true  sense  of 
that  word.  He  believed  in  the  great  principles  of  his  party  and  in 
its  policy  of  administration  as  best  for  all  sections  of  the  country. 

He  recognized  the  necessity  of  political  as  well  as  military  organ 
ization,  and  when  out-voted  for  command  esteemed  it  his  duty  and 
his  privilege  to  march  in  the  ranks,  side  by  side  with  his  comrades 
and  coworkers.  He  believed  in  aggressive  rather  than  defensive 
warfare;  in  advancing  the  right  rather  than  in  obstructing  the  wrong; 
in  sowing  and  cultivating  good  seed  rather  than  in  employing  his 
time  and  wasting  his  energies  in  the  destruction  of  weeds.  No  one 
could  well  suspect  him  of  swerving  in  the  least  degree  from  his  con 
victions  of  right  and  duty.  He  was  wise  enough  to  seek  more  in 
formation,  and  .discreet  enough  to  build  patiently  and  well  by  study, 
observation,  and  experience  the  foundation  of  a  Congressional  repu 
tation  that,  had  he  lived,  must  have  sustained  a  solid  structure. 

His  intellectual  ability  and  parliamentary  knowledge  shone  all  the 
brighter  in  the  setting  of  a  modest  self-distrust.  As  a  boy  we  are 
told  he  schooled  himself  by  his  daily  toil,  as  the  brightest  and  best 
of  New  England  boys  have  done.  When  the  war  broke  out  he  was 
in  college,  and  among  the  first  in  the  Granite  State  to  enlist  in  April, 
1 86 1,  as  a  private  soldier.  As  a  captain  at  Williamsburgh  under 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   EVARTS    W.    FARR.  29 

Hooker  he  left  his  right  arm  on  the  field  of  battle.  Longer  service 
or  greater  sacrifice  could  not  have  been  expected ;  but  his  wound  had 
scarcely  healed  when  he  sought  the  front  under  Grant  and  Sherman 
in  the  Southwest  with  a  major's  commission;  and  not  till  the  war 
closed  did  he  quit  the  Army,  not  always  in  the  field,  but  always  in 
the  line  of  active,  faithful  service.  After  the  war,  as  a  law  student, 
successful  practitioner,  trusted  and  honored  public  officer,  and  finally 
as  a  Representative  in  Congress,  he  maintained  the  same  heroic  and 
unselfish  character. 

Others  have  been  more  conspicuous  than  he  both  in  military  and 
in  civil  life,  but  we  may  look  in  vain  for  a  better  illustration  of  the 
ideal  volunteer  soldier  and  citizen  of  the  Republic.  When  danger 
threatened  his  countrymen  he  was  first  to  seek  and  last  to  leave  the 
most  perilous  and  patriotic  service.  When  peace  came  and  the  waste 
of  war  must  needs  be  repaired,  he  was  again  first  among  the  faithful 
in  giving  the  best  energies  of  a  dauntless  spirit  and  an  enfeebled, 
crippled  body  to  the  civil  service.  He  died  in  the  prime  of  man 
hood,  most  loved  and  respected  by  those  who  knew  him  best. 

It  is  said  that  a  pebble  dropped  in  ocean  will  send  its  wavelets  to 
the  distant  shore;  is  it  too  much  to  say  that  a  life  like  that  of  our 
deceased  colleague,  pure,  unselfish,-  uplifting  in  its  aims  and  efforts, 
dropped  in  the  great  ocean  of  humanity,  will  not  pass  from  sight 
without  leaving  behind  an  influence  that  touches  the  hearts  and  lives 
of  generations  to  come?  The  strength  and  promise  of  our  Ameri 
can  institutions  lie  in  the  development  of  just  such  characters  as  that 
of  Mr.  FARR.  Faithful,  as  I  am  told,  to  every  trust  confided  to  him, 
and  generous  in  kind  words  and  good  deeds,  he  has  done  what  he 
could  to  alleviate  human  suffering  and  to  elevate  and  ennoble  human 
kind. 


3° 


ADDRESS    OF    MR.    HALL    ON    THE 


ADDRESS    OF    yVLR.    ^ALL,    OF    JTEW    J-fAMPSHIRE. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  Thrice  during  this  Congress  has  the  end  of  earth 
come  to  members  of  this  House.  One  of  our  associates  during  each 
of  our  previous  sessions,  and  now  a  third  just  as  we  were  assembling 
here  for  this  session,  have  been  called  from  these  scenes  of  warm 
contention  and  earnest  'endeavor  to  that  unseen  world  to  which  we 
know  we,  too,  are  all  so  soon  to  follow. 

Sudden  and  unexpected  as  were  the  deaths  of  Mr.  Clark  at  our 
first  session  and  that  of  Mr.  Lay  at  our  last,  the  news  of  the  decease 
of  my  late  colleague,  Hon.  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  at  his  home  in  Little 
ton,  New  Hampshire,  on  the  30th  day  of  November  last,  was  hardly 
less  unexpected  or  more  appalling  to  his  associates  in  this  House  or 
to  his  friends  in  his  own  State. 

On  the  evening  of  Monday  preceding  the  opening  of  this  session 
I  first  learned  of  his  brief  illness  through  the  public  print,  and  the 
next  morning  at  nine  o'clock  he  was  dead.  Though  the  disease 
which  was  the  immediate  cause  of  my  late  colleague's  death  was  so 
brief  that  his  neighbors  hardly  missed  him  from  the  streets  of  the 
village  before  he  was  dead,  I  am  aware  that  he  had  for  months  suf 
fered  from  a  complication  of  diseases  which  we  now  know  must  at 
any  rate  have  at  no  remote  period  brought  his  life  to  a  close.  I  very 
well  remember  how  much  and  how  patiently  he  suffered  here  from  ill 
health  during  the  last  spring  months  until  finally,  under  the  earnest 
advice  of  his  physician,  he  was  induced  to  ask  leave  of  absence  for 
the  closing  weeks  of  the  session  and  take  a  short  sea  voyage  for  the 
benefit  of  his  failing  health.  I  think  I  have  never  known  a  member 
of  this  House  more  constant  in  his  attendance  upon  its  sessions  or 
one  who  seemed  to  feel  more  keenly  the  necessary  absence  of  an 
hour  than  Mr.  FARR;  and  so,  troubled  and  too  sensitive  about  his 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR.          31 

enforced  absence,  two  days  before  the  close  of  last  session  he  had 
returned  here  improved  in  appearance  and  spirits,  but  still  by  no 
means  a  well  man. 

From  a  conversation  with  him  in  this  Hall,  perhaps  the  last  one 
I  ever  had  with  him,  for  I  never  saw  him  after  our  separation  last 
June,  I  learned  that  he  was  one  of  that  great  army  of  martyrs  to 
their  country's  cause,  who,  spared  death  in  battle,  camp,  and  prison, 
are  reserved  to  after  years  of  pain  and  infirmity,  from  insidious  dis 
ease  fastened  on  the  system  while  serving  in  our  Army  during  the 
late  civil  war. 

Major  FARR  was  one  of  the  younger  members  of  this  House, 
having  but  just  completed  his  fortieth  year  at  the  time  of  his  death; 
but  those  years  were  full  of  earnest  effort  and  stirring  incident,  though 
no  special  privation  beset  his  early  life  or  remarkable  opportunity 
opened  before  his  maturer  years. 

Waiving  the  assistance  which  parental  affection  was  always  ready 
to  afford  he  was  always  inclined,  as  I  am  informed,  in  his  boyhood 
to  rely  on  his  own  unaided  efforts,  and  early  showed  that  manly  self- 
reliance  and  that  spirit  of  independence  which  so  characterized  him 
in  after  life,  by  largely,  if  not  entirely,  defraying  the  expenses  of  his 
preparatory  education  at  Thetford  Academy,  in  Vermont,  a  semi 
nary  of  good  repute  and  large  patronage,  where  he  graduated  with 
valedictory  honors  and  subsequently  entered  Dartmouth  College  in 
the  class  which  graduated  in  1863. 

Here  the  war  of  the  rebellion  found  him  pursuing  his  freshman 
studies,  the  earnest,  genial  son  of  God-fearing,  liberty-loving  parents 
of  the  Puritan  stock.  The  offspring  of  such  an  ancestry,  he  had  im 
bibed  from  the  daily  intercourse  of  the  home  circle,  from  the  teach 
ing  of  the  district  school,  and  from  the  whole  social  and  moral  atmos 
phere  that  molded  his  character  an  earnest  admiration  for  that  view 
of  life  which  claims  complete  freedom  and  equal  privileges  and  op 
portunity  in  life's  struggle  for  all. 


32  ADDRESS   OF    MR.    HALL    ON   THE 

To  a  mind  shaped  under  such  influences  anything  like  classific 
distinction  in  the  state  or  in  social  life,  or  the  arbitrary  enforced  sub 
servience  of  individuals  or  a  race,  was  repugnant  beyond  endurance, 
and  it  was  past  comprehension  when  any  attempt  was  made  to 
reconcile  such  a  system  with  any  code  of  ethics  which  reckoned 
honesty  a  virtue  or  theft  an  offense  against  fair  dealing.  Such  views 
his  college  life  was  calculated  to  intensify. 

Dartmouth  College  had  been  founded  a  century  before,  in  the 
heart  of  our  northern  wilderness,  having  for  its  motto,  "  Vox  claman- 
tis  deserto"  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  desert,  and  with  the  dis 
tinct  avowal  that  its  mission  was  to  educate  the  proscribed  red 
man  in  common  with  the  sons  of  the  white  settler.  With  advancing 
years  and  receding  forests  the  Indian  had  ceased  to  frequent  its  halls, 
but  the  comprehensive,  race-wide  philanthropy  of  Wheelock  and  his 
associates  had  left  an  abiding  impress  on  its  successive  generations 
of  instructors  and  given  shape  and  direction  to  its  mission  as  an  edu 
cator  of  young  men;  and  when  the  great  struggle  of  1861  came  on, 
whenever  it  was  referred  to,  whether  among  the  students  themselves 
in  the  recitation  room,  or  the  hall  of  more  public  discourse,  there 
was  praise  of  the  social  equality  pervading  life  in  the  free  States,  and 
a  corresponding  denunciation  of  the  peculiar  institution  which  had 
brought  on  the  great  conflict  and  for  the  perpetuity  of  which  the 
struggle  was  confessedly  waged;  and  soon  young  FARR,  with  others 
of  his  fellow-students,  had  exchanged  the  academic  gown  for  the 
uniform  of  the  soldier. 

Volunteering  on  the  2oth  of  April,  1861,  as  a  private,  he  remained 
in  the  Army  down  to  June,  1865,  when  he  was  honorably  discharged. 
During  most  of  these  years,  excepting  the  brief  period  when  he  was 
disabled  from  keeping  the  field  after  the  loss  of  his  right  arm  in  the 
battle  of  Williamsburgh,  Virginia,  in  May,  1862,  he  seems  to  have 
been  in  battle,  camp,  and  on  the  march. 

By  his  bravery  and  conspicuous  exhibition  of  all  the  traits  that 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR.         33 

mark  the  good  soldier,  he  rose  from  the  rank  of  private  to  that  of 
captain  in  the  Second  Regiment,  and  finally  to  the  rank  of  major  in 
the  Eleventh  Regiment  of  New  Hampshire  Volunteers. 

Returning  at  the  close  of  the  war  to  his  mountain  home,  he  set 
about  the  study  of  the  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Grafton 
County,  New  Hampshire,  in  1867;  at  once  opened  an  office  in  his 
native  town  of  Littleton,  and  there  continued  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  down  to  the  time  of  his  last  brief  illness,  excepting  as  he 
was  called  to  places  of  public  trust;  and  these  calls  were  not  infre 
quent,  and  they  were  conspicuously  to  commanding  positions  and 
places  which  require  for  their  possessor  that  private  worth  and  public 
confidence  which  Major  FARR  so  fully  possessed. 

Having  been  assessor  of  internal  revenue  by  presidential  appoint 
ment  from  July,  1870,  to  the  abolition  of  the  office  in  1873,  county 
solicitor  of  Grafton  County  by  executive  appointment  in  1873  and 
again  in  1876,  a  member  of  the  executive  council  of  his  State  in 
1876,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  this  House  for  the  Forty-sixth 
Congress  and  again  elected  to  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  in  No 
vember  last. 

To  those  gentlemen  in  this  House  who  were  so  fortunate  as  to 
make  Major  FARR'S  acquaintance  it  will  be  no  surprise  when  I  say 
he  was  a  great  favorite  with  his  party  and  the  pride  of  our  New 
Hampshire  people.  Proverbial  for  his  honesty  and  his  honor,  his 
patriotism  proven  by  his  heroic  service  for  his  country,  his  courage 
on  the  very  crest  of  battle  attested  by  that  empty  right  sleeve,  a 
bright  man  intellectually  and  well  poised  every  way,  never  descend 
ing  from  the  highest  moral  plane  in  his  daily  walk  and  conversation, 
a  good  lawyer,  the  pleasant  gentleman  always  that  you  saw  here, 
the  leader  in  every  good  work,  it  is  no  wonder  that  old  men  stood 
by  him,  young  though  he  was,  nor  that  the  young  were  fascinated 
by  his  life,  nor  that  all  classes  and  ages  rallied  around  him  and  made 
him  their  standard-bearer  whether  he  would  or  no. 


FR 


34  ADDRESS   OF    MR.    HALL    ON    THE 

The  men  and  women  of  that  northern  region  are  stern  in  their 
notions  of  right  and  wrong,  and  exacting  of  their  public  servants  in 
matters  of  public  policy;  but  so  well  had  their  requirements  been 
met  in  his  case  that  their  affection  toward  him  whose  life  we  to-day 
commemorate  was  as  fervid  as  the  fires  on  their  hearth-stones ;  and 
when  his  death  was  known  there  was  a  sense  of  personal  bereave 
ment  among  all  classes  which  comes  only  when  a  trusted  leader  who  is 
the  hope  and  reliance  of  the  State  in  the  emergencies  of  the  future  falls. 

As  a  lawyer,  Major  FARR  had  his  training  and  passed  his  profes 
sional  life  at  a  bar  which  for  many  years  has  been  remarkable  for  the 
legal  knowledge  and  forensic  ability  of  its  members.  Personally  I 
knew  little  of  him  in  his  profession,  but  I  am  told  that  his  natural 
vigor  of  intellect,  aided  by  that  perseverance  and  determination  to 
excel  which  seem  never  to  have  failed  him,  very  early  gave  him  a 
prominent  position  as  a  lawyer,  not  only  in  the  minds  of  community 
generally,  but  as  well  in  the  more  discriminating  estimate  of  the  pro 
fession.  Doubtless  others  were  severer  students  of  books  and  sharper 
practitioners,  but  none,  I  venture  to  say,  took  broader  views  of  the 
law  or  made  more  sensible  application  of  its  principles,  and  no  one 
practiced  the  law  in  a  more  honorable  way,  or  more  for  the  good  of 
the  State,  or  more  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  clients,  than  Major  FARR. 

Genius  has  been  said  to  be  the  undue  development  of  some  one 
faculty  at  the  expense  of  others,  and  all  of  us  have  seen  too  many 
instances  of  the  like.  Genius  in  this  sense  Major  FARR  had  not,  but 
if  he  had  none  of  those  shining  qualities  which  dazzle  and  attract, 
he  had  all  those  qualities  which  go  to  make  up  a  noble  manhood 
well  balanced  and  well  disciplined.  He  was  a  most  consistent  and 
serviceable  man,  rich  in  good  works  in  public  and  private  life  alike. 
No  one  was  more  constant  in  attendance  here  than  he,  none  more 
punctual  or  more  fearless  in  putting  himself  on  the  record  on  all  ques 
tions  acted  on  in  this  House.  Though  he  took  little  of  the  time  of 
this  House  in  speech-making,  it  was  neither  because  he  was  not  in- 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER   OF   EVARTS   W.    FARR. 


35 


terested  in  matters  of  legislation,  nor  because  he  was  not  a  ready 
and  effective  debater,  for  no  one  followed  our  deliberations  with  more 
care  than  he,  and  he  spoke  with  ease  and  an  ability  that  attracted 
attention  upon  all  subjects  that  interested  him.  Doubtless,  with 
longer  service  here,  he  would  have  been  found  valuable  in  discussion 
as  well  as  in  consultation. 

That  my  colleague  should  have  been  cut  off  ere  it  was  the  noon 
of  life  with  him;  when  life  promised  so  much  of  enjoyment  and  use 
fulness;  when  his  hopes  were  so  high  and  the  endearments  of  that 
now  stricken  and  desolate  little  family  were  so  great,  is  incomprehen 
sible.  Reason  reels  at  the  blow;  all  the  resources  of  philosophy  and 
speculation  give  no  solution  of  the  mysterious  Providence,  and  we 
are  reminded  that  we  are  here  simply  the  executors  of  another's  will; 
that  the  disposition  of  nations  and  of  individuals  alike  is  not  in  finite 
hands.  "For  now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly;  but  then  face  to 
face."  Now,  and  whenever  we  recall  our  lamented  brother,  we  will 
say  the  best  we  can  say  of  any : 

He  has  done  the  work  of  a  true  man. 

*  *  *  * 

Never  rode  to  the  wrong's  redressing 

A  worthier  paladin. 
Shall  he  not  hear  the  blessing, 

"Good and  faithful  enter  in ? " 


ADDRESS  OF 


J3LAKE,  OF  J^EW  JERSEY. 


Mr.  SPEAKER  :  Twice  within  my  brief  term  of  service  in  this  House 
has  the  seat  at  my  right  hand  been  vacant.  Two  of  our  fellow-mem 
bers  who  sat  there  have  been  taken  from  us  by  death.  First,  Clark 
of  Iowa,  then  FARR  of  New  Hampshire.  Both  of  them  were  "  good 
men  and  true  "  ;  both  of  them  the  faithful  servants  of  the  people  ;  both 
of  them  my  friends. 

It  is  of  Mr.  FARR  only  that  I  am  to  speak  at  this  time.  My  liking 
for  him  was  of  no  sudden  growth.  Until  he  came  to  this  seat  I  knew 


36  ADDRESS   OF    MR.   BLAKE   ON   THE 

not  even  his  name.  And  then — so  soon  was  it  after  the  loss  of  poor 
Clark — I  was  in  no  mood  to  greet  him  or  any  other  with  ardor,  while 
FARR  himself,  as  if  he  read  my  thoughts,  was  shy  and  formal.  Thus 
were  we  for  a  while  kept  apart.  The  courtesies  of  our  daily  inter 
course,  however,  gradually  drew  us  together,  and  acquaintance  rip 
ened  into  friendship.  When  we  separated,  at  the  close  of  the  last 
session,  it  was  with  words  of  mutual  regret.  During  the  vacation  we 
exchanged  letters  and  made  plans,  which  now,  alas !  are  never  to  be 
realized.  I  had  heard  that  he  was  feeble  in  health,  but  I  did  not 
foresee  the  end  that  was  so  near.  To-day  he  lies  buried  in  one  of 
the  beautiful  valleys  which  he  loved,  among  the  granite  hills,  and 
the  snows  of  winter  are  heaped  high  above  his  newly-made  grave. 

It  was  not  easy  to  become  familiar  with  Mr.  FARR.  He  did  not 
"wear  his  heart  upon  his  sleeve."  He  sought  no  intimacies.  Stran 
gers  did  not  understand  him.  Nor  did  he  respond  quickly  to  their 
advances.  There  was  to  them — and  to  them  alone — an  exterior  of 
reserve;  or,  sometimes,  a  plainness  of  speech  which  repelled.  And 
a  few  may  here  say  that  he  was  wanting  in  sympathy.  But  these 
knew  him  not.  His  inner  self  was  hidden  from  them.  To  those  fa 
vored  ones  who,  having  gained  the  key,  passed  within  the  portal,  he 
was  frank  and  genial,  full  of  sensibility,  tender  and  loving,  abundant 
in  deeds  of  kindness  and  good-will. 

Little  by  little  did  he  tell  me  the  story  of  his  life;  of  his  boyhood; 
of  his  efforts  to  obtain  education;  his  patience  and  self-denial;  his 
arduous  military  service;  his  happy  marriage;  his  successes  as  a  law 
yer;  his  participation  in  civil  affairs;  and,  finally,  of  his  election  to 
Congress.  The  whole  was  told  with  great  simplicity.  There  was  no 
boasting;  no  seeking  for  praise.  Not  a  word  about  his  distinguished 
bravery  upon  the  field  of  battle.  All  that  have  I  learned  from  other 
lips  than  his  own.  As  he  drew  the  picture  for  me,  he  had  merely 
tried  to  do  his  duty  and  to  do  it  well.  In  his  eyes  there  was  noth 
ing  of  merit  in  doing  that  which  is  required  of  all  men  alike.  But 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR. 


37 


the  record  of  this  short  life — so  pure,  so  useful — is  at  once  a  lesson 
and  a  legacy  for  those  whom  he  has  left  behind. 

The  few  flaws  in  Mr.  FARR'S  character  were  of  manner  rather  than 
of  the  heart.  Let  us  speak  of  his  better  qualities.  He  was  modest, 
almost  timid,  and  yet  bold  when  there  was  occasion  for  boldness. 
Humble,  yet  proud  of  his  strength  when  there  was  a  wrong  to  be  re 
dressed  or  the  weak  and  friendless  were  to  be  upborne.  Zealous  in 
behalf  of  a  client  or  a  cause,  and  yet  zeal  and  honor  went  ever  side 
by  side  with  equal  steps.  Having  a  mind  so  broad  that  he  could 
not  be  technical,  he  was  direct  always  in  speech  and  purpose.  Like 
the  Sultan  Akbar,  he  believed  that  "  no  man  was  ever  lost  in  a  straight 
road."  Hence  was  he  without  craft  and  without  deceit.  He  hated 
a  lie,  and  for  the  liar  he  had  scorn.  His  early  struggles  had  made 
him  practical.  Common  sense  held  the  scales  in  which  he  weighed 
all  things;  and  honesty  of  the  old-fashioned  kind  left  him  rich  only 
in  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  his  fellow-men. 

When  he  came  into  this  body  it  was  with  the  determination  to  be 
useful.  He  did  not  wish  to  be  conspicuous.  No  member  was  more 
regular  in  attendance.  No  one  more  watchful  of  the  proceedings. 
No  one  more  studious  of  the  methods  of  legislation.  None  more 
industrious  in  the  committee-room.  None  more  conscientious  every 
where.  None  firmer  than  he  in  resistance  to  any  scheme  which 
seemed  to  be  unwise  or  unwholesome.  Thoroughly  in  earnest  about 
every  matter,  whether  great  or  small.  Devoted  to  his  constituents, 
being  their  representative  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name.  A  partisan, 
and  intense  in  loyalty  to  his  party;  at  the  same  time  so  true  to  his 
country  as  to  be  in  a  measure  independent  of  parties  and  party  dis 
cipline.  Clear  and  positive  in  his  views  upon  all  political  questions 
and  strong  in  their  expression,  nevertheless  without  rancor  or  bitter 
ness  toward  those  whom  he  believed  to  be  honestly  opposed  to  them. 

It  was  not  strange,  then,  that_  the  people  who  sent  him  here  were 
prompt  to  recognize  his  ability  and  his  fidelity.  Nor  strange  that  in 


38  ADDRESS  OF  MR.  SHERWIN  ON  THE 

the  recent  election  they  insisted  upon  his  return  for  further  service  to 
the  place  which  he  had  filled  so  well.  Could  he  have  been  spared 
for  a  few  years  longer,  I  am  persuaded  that  other  and  higher  honors 
would  have  opened  to  him.  And  I  know  that  he  would  have  been 
found  worthy  of  them  all.  It  is  idle,  however,  to  speculate  upon  that 
which  is  impossible.  His  earth  work  is  finished.  He  comes  to  us  no 
more.  But  there  are  some  in  this  presence  to-day  by  whom  he  will 
not  be  forgotten.  In  our  hearts  his  memory — like  the  sweet-scented 
branches  of  the  pine  tree  and  the  hemlock  which  stand  as  sentinels 
around  his  grave — shall  be  green  and  fragrant  forever. 


ADDRESS    OF      M.R.    J$HERW1N,    OF    JLLINOIS. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  I  was  unacquainted  with  the  deceased  member  from 
New  Hampshire  until  I  met  him  here  at  the  extra  session  of  this  Con 
gress.  The  badge  he  wore — his  empty  sleeve — first  drew  my  attention 
toward  him,  and  the  formal  introduction  which  followed  ripened  into 
an  acquaintance  during  the  last  session  of  Congress  especially,  sitting 
as  he  did  so  near  me,  which  led  me  to  respect,  admire,  and  trust  him. 
Coming  as  we  did  from  wide-severed  portions  of  the  Republic,  he 
from  the  shadows  of  Mount  Washington  in  the  valley  of  the  Con 
necticut,  and  I  from  the  level  prairies  of  Illinois,  we  yet  joined  • 
hands  in  this  Hall,  one  in  hope  and  one  in  purpose  and  desire  to  do 
that  which  should  redound  to  the  prosperity,  the  glory,  the  power  of 
the  nation. 

I  knew  nothing  of  his  life  at  home.  I  did  know  that  he  had 
given  one  of  his  limbs  to  his  country,  and  had  loyally  lavished  his 
strength  and  the  energy  of  his  youth  for  four  long  years  that  the 
nation  might  endure  an  undivided  republic  forevermore.  I  can 
fancy  that  Major  FARR,  a  student  at  Dartmouth,  the  honored  alma 
mater  of  many  accomplished  and  illustrious  jurists,  statesmen,  ora 
tors,  and  scholars,  when  the  late  unhappy  conflict  was  impending 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    EVARTS    \V.    FARR.  39 

may  have  repeated  the  immortal  words  of  New  Hampshire's  and 
Dartmouth's  greatest  son  in  the  peroration  to  his  second  speech  on 
Foote's  resolution,  expressing  the  very  passion  of  liberty  and  union 
and  converting  the  nation's  fears  for  both  into  a  prophecy,  afterward 
to  be  gloriously  fulfilled;  and  that  those  words,  now  classic,  while 
upon  the  lips  of  Webster  were  but  an  unquenchable  aspiration,  were, 
under  the  exigent  demands  of  that  time,  at  once  transmuted  by  him 
into  a  lofty  purpose,  which  seized  upon  and  impelled  him  to  heroic 
deeds.  Changing  the  majestic  eloquence  of  the  Senate  into  sublim- 
est  action,  he  helped  to  place  the  feet  of  the  nation  upon  the  immov 
able  granite  of  Union,  one  and  indivisible. 

He  showed  in  all  my  intercourse  with  him  here  that  he  was  moved 
by  a  constant  sense  of  duty  to  himself,  his  constituents,  and  his 
country.  He  was  unflagging  in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  and 
untiring  in  all  the  routine  work  which  is  cast  upon  a  member  of  Con 
gress.  And  while  attending  faithfully  to  the  uninteresting,  common, 
and  exacting  demands  made  upon  him  daily,  he  was  constantly 
studying  the  intricate  methods  of  legislation  and  familiarizing  him 
self  with  the  course  of  Congressional  business,  that  he  might  be 
fitted  to  grapple  in  the  future  with  those  greater  and  more  important 
questions  of  state  which  are  only  opened  to  those  men  of  experience 
acquired  within  these  walls. 

He  had  a  mind  of  singular  directness,  which  went  at  once  to  the 
marrow  of  a  question.  He  was  sometimes  impatient  at  the  delays 
of  public  business  and  longed  to  cut  off  or  suppress  all  extraneous 
considerations  when  debating  public  questions  and  proceed  directly 
to  its  consummation.  Yet  he  was  careful  and  cautious  in  all  essen 
tials. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  say  that  he  was  animated  by  a  patri 
otism  as  broad  as  the  banner  which  embraces  the  whole  land  in  its 
folds,  and  as  bright  as  are  its  stars.  His  love  of  country  was  a  pas 
sion  with  him.  His  best  thoughts  and  purposes  were  given  to  it, 


40  ADDRESS  OF  MR.  SHERWIN  ON  THE 

• 

even  as  he  had  before  given  of  his  body  and  his  blood,  freely  and 
without  stint.  An  imputation  upon  its  honor  was  like  a  personal 
affront  to  him.  His  country  was  not  New  Hampshire,  but  the 
Union,  indivisible  and  grand.  While  he  loved  the  granite  hills  upon 
which  he  was  born  and  reared,  and  they  were  his  home,  those  hills 
were  comprehended  in  the  all-embracing  circuit  of  the  Republic. 
He  was  simple  and  unaffected  in  his  manners,  and  easily  approached 
by  every  one.  Those  who  knew  him  could  not  but  be  charmed  by 
the  frankness  of  his  address,  the  intelligence  of  his  conversation,  and 
the  kindliness  of  temper  which  shone  over  all.  A  stranger  even  would 
have  recognized  in  him  a  man  of  stern  integrity  and  purity  of  life. 

This  man,  whose  life  had  been  full  of  heroic  experiences  and  stren 
uous  living,  who  had  set  his  ideals  high  above  the  ordinary  levels  of 
the  world  and  was  possessed  of  the  vigor  to  successfully  pursue  them, 
had  been  selected  by  the  people  who  knew  him  best  to  represent 
them  in  the  council  chambers  of  the  nation  before  he  had  attained  to 
the  prime  of  his  manhood. 

He  had  acquitted  himself  so  well  in  his  high  trusts  that  he  had 
been  the  second  time  chosen  by  them  as  their  Representative,  but 
hardly  had  the  news  of  his  last  success  reached  us  before  the  wires 
brought  the  painful  announcement  that  he  was  no  more.  Ambition 
was  laid  at  rest.  Death  stepped  noiselessly  between  him  and  the 
goal  he  had  set  himself.  That  career,  which  had  so  lately  opened 
to  him  its  bright  promise  of  usefulness,  for  which  he  had  girded  him 
self,  but  which  he  had  as  yet  hardly  begun  to  run,  was  suddenly 
closed,  and  we  stand  by  his  vacant  seat  pondering  upon  the  frail 
tenure  by  which  man  is  held  to  the  concerns  of  life.  •  We  cannot 
comprehend  the  wisdom  which  has  removed  him  so  early  from  the 
work  of  life  which  he  was  so  well  fitted  to  perform;  but  we  can  un 
derstand  and  do  know  that  he  has  left  with  us  the  record  of  a  man 
modest  yet  firm ;  one  who  loved  the  true  and  the  good,  and  was 
ready  to  work  for  them;  a  wise  legislator,  a  patriot,  an  honest  man. 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF    EVARTS   W.    FARR. 


ADDRESS  OF    M.R.  RAY,  OF  NEW  J-IAMPSHIRE. 

MR.  SPEAKER:  After  what  has  already  been  so  worthily  said  of 
the  life  and  public  services  of  my  late  predecessor,  but  little  remains 
for  me  to  add.  I  feel  unwilling,  however,  to  let  this  occasion  pass 
without  paying  my  humble  tribute  to  the  worth  of  EVARTS  W.  FARR. 

Residing  near  him,  it  was  my  privilege  to  know  him  intimately  for 
twenty  years  and  upward.  As  a  civilian,  he  laid  no  claim  to  leader 
ship,  as  that  term  is  commonly  understood,  but  he  was,  nevertheless, 
a  thoroughly  excellent  and  public-spirited  citizen,  possessed  of  good 
judgment  and  sound  common  sense. 

From  personal  observation  ever  since  he  came  to  man's  estate,  I 
can  safely  aver  that  in  every  position  of  public  trust  or  private  con 
fidence  in  which  he  was  placed  he  was  reliable,  faithful,  and  efficient. 

Who  does  the  best  his  circumstance  allows, 
Does  well,  acts  nobly;  angels  could  no  more. 

I  concur  fully  in  the  accurate  compend  of  his  biography  which 
has  been  so  eloquently  given  by  my  colleagues,  and  will  not,  there 
fore,  take  the  time  of  the  House  in  its  repetition.  The  people  of  his 

• 

district,  appreciating  the  creditable  manner  in  which  he  had  acquitted 
himself,  both  in  military  and  civil  life,  had  elected  him  as  a  member 
of  the  present  Congress  by  a  decisive  majority,  and  honorable  mem 
bers  associated  with  him  upon  committees,  and  all  who  enjoyed  his 
acquaintance,  can  testify  how  worthily  that  honor  as  well  as  that  of 
his  re-election  to  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  was  bestowed  by  his 
constituents.  Few  men  have  made  more  friends  during  so  brief  an 
allotment  of  life,  and  none  have  left  behind  them  fewer  enemies. 

Upon  this  occasion  I  can  do  little  more  than  to  express  the  senti 
ments  of  kindly  regard  with  which  my  long  acquaintance  with  Major 
FARR  had  inspired  me,  leaving  to  others,  who  have  to-day  so  well 
fulfilled  the  task,  to  speak  of  those  features  of  his  career  which  en- 


6  FR 


42  ADDRESS   OF    MR.    RAY. 


deared  him  to  the  people  of  New  Hampshire,  and  which  will  endear 
his  memory  to  them  forever. 

We  listen  now  to  the  formal  announcement  of  his  death  that  we 
may,  by  this  public  demonstration,  show  our  respect  for  the  high 
office  which  he  held,  and  our  appreciation  of  his  patriotism  as  shown 
on  the  battle-field,  and  his  faithfulness  as  displayed  in  civil  life.' 
These  resolutions  cannot  augment  the  fame  of  the  deceased,  but 
they  will  show  that  the  Republic  can  be  grateful  to  those  who  have 
served  her  well,  and  that  men  of  all  parties  can  appreciate  the 
qualities  which  illustrated  and  adorned  his  life. 

The  lesson  of  his  well-spent  life  and  untimely  death  cannot  fail  us, 
for  the  former  is  ever  before  us  as  an  example,  the  latter  as  a  warn 
ing.  The  spectacle  of  one  cut  down  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood, 
in  the  very  midst  of  a  useful  and  meritorious  career,  is  one  that  may 
well  make  us  pause  in  the  hurry  and  bustle  of  our  daily  duties,  to 
consider  whether  life  is  worth  all  the  wear  and  tear  and  worry  that 
we  undergo  for  worldly  purposes  alone,  and  it  brings  to  mind,  with 
overwhelming  force,  the  truth  that  it  is  not  all  of  life  to  live.  The 
pure,  patriotic,  and  noble  life  of  our  deceased  friend  remains  only  a 
memory,  but  it  is  a  memory  which  descends  to  his  family  and  kin 
dred  and  friends  as  a  priceless  inheritance,  an  imperishable  legacy  of 
honor. 

With  mingled  feelings  of  sadness  and  satisfaction  I  move  the  adop 
tion  of  these  resolutions :  sadness  at  the  occurrence  which  gave  rise 
to  their  introduction,  satisfaction  because  of  the  opportunity  afforded 
me  to  forward  what  I  consider  most  appropriate  action  on  the  part 
of  this  House  in  commemoration  of  an  event  which  has  brought 
sorrow  to  so  many  hearts  and  an  impressive  lesson  to  us  all. 

The  SPEAKER.  The  question  is  on  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions 
submitted  by  the  gentleman  from  New  Hampshire- 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted;  and  then,  in  obe 
dience  thereto,  the  House  adjourned. 


PROCEEDINGS   IN   THE  SENATE. 


DECEMBER  8,  1880. 

A  message  from  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Mr.  GEORGE  M. 
ADAMS,  its  clerk,  communicated  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Hon. 
EVARTS  W.  FARR,  late  a  Representative  from  the  State  of  New 
Hampshire  and  member-elect  to  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  from 
that  State. 

FEBRUARY  8,  1881. 

A  message  was  received  from  the  House  of  Representatives  by 
Mr.  THEODORE  F.  KING,  one  of  its  clerks,  communicating  to  the 
Senate  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Hon.  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  late 
a  Representative  from  the  State  of  New  Hampshire,  and  transmit 
ting  the  resolutions  of  the  House  thereon. 

Mr.  ROLLINS.  I  move  that  the  business  of  the  Senate  be  suspended, 
and  call  for  the  reading  of  the  resolutions  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  announcing  the  death  of  Mr.  FARR,  late  a  member  of  the 
House  from  the  State  of  New  Hampshire. 

The  PRESIDING  OFFICER.  The  Senator  from  New  Hampshire  asks 
that  the  pending  order  be  suspended  for  the  purpose  he  has  named. 
Is  there  objection  ?  The  Chair  hears  none ;  and  the  resolutions  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  will  be  read. 

The  Chief  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  this  House  has  heard  with  profound  sorrow  the 
announcement  of  the  death  of  Hon.  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  late  a  Rep 
resentative  from  the  State  of  New  Hampshire. 

Resolved,  That  in  'token  of  regard  for  the  memory  of  the  lamented 
deceased  the  members  of  this  House  do  wear  the  usual  badge  of 
mourning  for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  this  House  do  communicate  these  res 
olutions  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

43 


44  ADDRESS   OF    MR.    ROLLINS   ON   THE 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the 
deceased  this  House  do  now  adjourn. 

Mr.  ROLLINS.  Mr.  President,  I  move  that  the  resolutions  which 
I  send  to  the  Chair  be  adopted  by  the  Senate. 

The  PRESIDING  OFFICER.  The  resolutions  will  be  read. 

The  Chief  Clerk  read  the  resolutions  of  Mr.  ROLLINS,  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  has  received  with  profound  sensibility 
the  sad  announcement  of  the  death  of  Hon.  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  late 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  the  State  of  New 
Hampshire. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  Mr.  FARR, 
the  members  of  the  Senate  will  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning 
for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  the  sympathies  of  the  members  of  the  Senate  be 
tendered  to  the  family  of  the  deceased  in  this  bereavement,  and  that 
the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  transmit  to  them  a  copy  of  these  resolu 
tions. 


ADDRESS    OF     M.R.    ROLLINS,    OF    NEW    HAMPSHIRE. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  It  is  now  almost  a  quarter  of  a  century  since  a 
member  of  the  delegation  from  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  has 
been  called  upon  to  announce  the  death  of  a  colleague  in  either 
branch  of  Congress.  Since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  four 
Senators  from  New  Hampshire  have  died  during  their  terms  of 
office:  Nicholas  Oilman,  in  1814;  Charles  G.  Atherton,  in  1853; 
Moses  Norris,  jr.,  in  1855;  and  James  Bell,  in  1857;  although  out  of 
the  thirty-five  Senators  who  have  represented  the  State  prior  to  the 
present  incumbents  but  six  are  now  living. 

In  the  other  branch  for  the  first  time  a  vacancy  has  occurred  by 
the  death  of  Major  E.  W.  FARR,  the  youngest  member  of  our  delega 
tion,  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood,  and  but  a  few  days  after  the  peo- 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR.          45 

pie  of  his  district  had  indorsed  his  ability  and  worth  by  a  re-election. 
In  the  midst  of  life  we  are  in  death.  The  great  leveler  invades  all 
ranks  and  conditions  of  life,  paying  no  regard  to  age  or  sex,  strength 
or  weakness. 

In  this  case  the  blow  fell  with  little  warning  and  but  a  brief  illness, 
and  it  is  a  significant  admonition  to  us  to  be  always  ready  to  meet 
that  last  call  to  enter  upon  the  new  state  which  awaits  us  beyond 
the  confines  of  this  earthly  existence,  and  there  solve  the  mystery 
which  during  all  time  our  human  intelligence  has  not  been  able  satis 
factorily  to  penetrate,  except  that  we  are  fain  to  accept  the  faith  that 
death  is  but  the  portal  to  a  new  existence,  and  that  if  a  man  die  he 
shall  live  again.  The  survivors  may  mourn  their  loss  more  griev 
ously  when  it  comes  without  warning,  but  it  is  well  with  the  departed. 
My  acquaintance  with  Major  FARR  began  in  the  early  days  of  the 
great  struggle  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  in  April,  1861,  when 
the  first  call  to  arms  was  responded  to  with  so  much  alacrity,  not  only 
by  our  late  and  lamented  friend,  but  by  so  many  others  in  the  North. 
From  that  time  until  the  day  when  the  sad  intelligence  of  his  death 
was  communicated  to  me  by  telegraph  from  his  quiet  home  among 
the  mountains,  I  watched  with  interest  his  career,  both  in  the  Army 
and  in  civil  life,  and  our  friendship  was  never  for  one  moment  inter 
rupted.  In  his  death  I  mourn  the  loss  of  a  true,  long-tried,  and 
esteemed  friend. 

Major  FARR  was  born  in  Littleton,  New  Hampshire,  October  10, 
1840.  At  the  early  age  of  twelve,  with  that  independence  so  char 
acteristic  in  later  years,  he  struck  out  for  himself,  and,  by  that  rugged 
toil  which  is  not  unfamiliar  to  many  New  England  boys,  began  to 
earn  his  own  support  and  provide  means  to  secure  an  education.  In 
the  fall  of  1856  he  entered  upon  his  preparatory  course  for  college 
at  the  academy  at  Thetford,  Vermont,  leaving  that  with  valedictory 
honors  in  1859  for  Dartmouth  College.  His  collegiate  course  was 
interrupted  by  the  call  to  arms,  and  in  April,  1861,  his  name  appears 


46  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    ROLLINS   ON   THE 

first  in  his  native  town  and  among  the  first  in  the  State  enrolled 
among  the  volunteers.  Subsequently  he  was  appointed  a  lieutenant 
in  the  Second  New  Hampshire  Regiment. 

During  the  first  year  he  was  prostrated  by  disease  and  sent  to  the 
hospital  in  this  city,  but  an  indomitable  will  and  strong  constitution 
carried  him  through,  and  as  soon  as  he  recovered  his  strength  he 
returned  to  his  regiment.  January  i,  1862,  he  received  his  commis 
sion  as  captain,  and  on  the  5th  of  May  following,  in  the  battle  of 
Williamsburgh,  during  a  drenching  rain,  his  right  arm  was  shattered 
by  a  minie  ball  while  he  was  in  the  act  of  firing.  With  character 
istic  coolness  he  picked  up  his  revolver  with  his  left  hand  and  passed 
to  the  rear,  where  he  remained  forty-eight  hours  in  a  dilapidated 
building  without  doors  or  windows,  in  his  wet  clothing ;  he  was  then 
conveyed  to  Fortress  Monroe  and  was  sent  home,  where  he  arrived 
in  fifteen  days  after  receiving  the  wound  which  deprived  him  of  his 
arm.  Impatient  of  this  enforced  retirement,  in  six  weeks  he  returned 
to  the  front.  Soon  after  he  was  appointed  major  of  the  Eleventh 
New  Hampshire  Regiment,  and  as  such  participated  in  the  battle 
of  Fredericksburgh,  December  13,  1862.  With  his  regiment  he  was 
under  General  Grant  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburgh.  Later  he  was 
detailed  as  judge-advocate  on  court-martial  duty  at  Cincinnati  and 
Washington,  and  after  the  close  of  the  war  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1867.  He  was  assistant  assessor  of  internal 
revenue,  and  subsequently  assessor,  which  office  be  held  until  1873, 
when  the  office  was  abolished. 

As  a  soldier  he  was  chivalrous  and  brave,  bearing  a  record  with 
out  blemish,  ever  present  when  duty  called.  As  an  officer,  cool  and 
courageous  in  danger,  strict  in  discipline,  but  by  his  general  kindness 
endeared  to  all  his  men,  winning  the  highest  estimation  of  all  who 
knew  him  and  the  confidence  of  his  seniors  in  command.  As  a  law 
yer,  he  won  a  good  position,  and  was  known  as  a  safe  counselor, 
earning  the  confidence  of  his  clients  and  the  community.  As  a  poli- 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR.         47 

tician,  he  was  frank  and  outspoken,  leaving  no  doubt  as  to  his  posi 
tion,  and,  while  a  stalwart  Republican,  possessed  many  warm  friends 
among  his  political  opponents. 

In  1876  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  governor's  council  from 
his  district;  he  was  twice  appointed  prosecuting  attorney  for  his 
county,  resigning  that  position  to  take  his  seat  in  the  present  Con 
gress,  to  which  he  was  elected  in  1878.  At  the  recent  election  (No 
vember,  1880)  he  was  re-elected  to  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  in 
one  of  the  most  hotly  contested  campaigns  known  in  his  district, 
which  is  a  very  close  one,  thus  showing  the  estimation  in  which  he 
was  held  by  his  constituents. 

As  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  he  proved  himself 
industrious  and  efficient;  as  in  the  Army,  he  was  never  absent  from 
his  post  of  duty  except  from  imperative  necessity. 

It  is  said  that  a  prophet  is  not  without  honor  save  in  his  own  coun 
try,  but  the  following  tribute  will  show  how  Major  FARR  was  appre 
ciated  in  his  own  community,  and  this  tribute  will  be  indorsed  by 
every  member  of  that  community: 

To  speak  of  him  as  a  man  is  to  fully  know  him  as  a  citizen  and  neighbor,  a  hus 
band  and  father,  an  associate  and  friend.  As  a  citizen  he  was  just,  kind,  and  pub 
lic-spirited  ;  as  a  husband  and  father  ardent  and  constant  in  his  affections  and  ever 
tenderly  devoted;  as  a  friend  and  associate  there  was  no  one  more  loyal,  liberal, 
and  unselfish;  quick  to  resent  an  injury,  he  was  placable  and  ready  to  forgive. 
If  he  ever  unknowingly  wronged  another  (knowingly  he  could  not  have  done  it), 
his  magnanimity  in  redressing  it  was  prompt,  noble,  and  conspicuous.  As  a  pub 
lic  man  his  integrity  and  honor  were  never  questioned;  incorruptible  and  sincere, 
he  was  ever  ready  alike  to  defend  a  friend  and  the  friendless.  Once  his  confidence 
was  won,  nothing  but  dishonor  could  sever  the  tie  that  bound  him  to  his  fellow- 
man.  Can  it  be  wondered  that  his  people  loved  and  trusted  such  exemplary  man 
hood  ? 

Warm-hearted,  sincere,  and  generous  to  a  fault,  he  possessed  a 
genuine  magnetism  which  attracted  and  held  all  who  approached  him. 

Entering  the  Army  while  not  yet  twenty-one,  with  a  vigorous  and 
robust  constitution,  he  left  it  four  years  later  deprived  of  his  right 


48  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    BLAIR   ON   THE 

arm  and  with  the  seeds  of  disease  about  him  which  rendered  him 
unable  to  recuperate  from  the  sudden  attack,  coming  as  it  did  just 
at  the  end  of  an  arduous  and  exhausting  campaign.  His  loss  is  not 
alone  a  sad  bereavement  to  his  aged  father  and  mother,  to  his  wife 
and  young  children,  but  to  the  community  in  which  he  lived  and 
was  honored,  and  to  the  State  which  he  represented.  Struck  down 
in  the  pride  of  his  manhood,  he  has  left  a  void  which  will  be  hard 
to  fill.  To  those  who  were  near  and  dear  to  him,  to  his  friends  and 
neighbors,  and  to  his  State  we  extend  our  hearty  sympathy,  not  un 
mindful  that  this  Congress  is  also  called  upon  to  deplore  another 
break  in  its  family  circle  and  another  chair  made  vacant  by  his  un 
timely  death. 


ADDRESS     OF     yVlR.     ^LAIR,     OF     JSfEW 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  There  is  no  solitude  like  that  which  envelops  a 
public  man  amid  the  multiplied  and  exacting  activities  which  environ 
him  in  the  Capitol  of  his  country.  I  have  never  felt  so  utterly  alone 
as  when  most  absorbed  in  my  duties  here.  The  continuous  woods, 
vast,  dark,  and  silent,  are  full  of  tender  companionship,  and  the  spirit 
of  nature  speaks  with  many-voiced  and  varied  tones  to  him  who 
seeks  her  wild  and  secret  home.  But  here  one  seems  to  be  projected 
as  it  were  into  a  kaleidoscopic  and  tumultuous  scene  where,  though 
all  may  be  light,  beauty,  and  variety,  yet  when  analyzed  the  elements 
of  the  fascinating  vision  are  mere  gloss  and  glitter  without  one  ray 
of  heat  or  throb  of  sympathy. 

Every  public  man  is  all  alone  in  a  certain  and  substantial  sense. 
His  connections  are  with  his  distant  constituency;  and  only  with 
them  through  the  post,  the  telegraph,  and  other  avenues  of  commu 
nication  does  he  really  live.  Now  and  then  there  is  a  break  through 
the  environment  of  affairs,  and  for  a  little  while  in  cheerful  or  mourn 
ful  but  always  heartfelt  communion  with  a  congenial  soul  there  is  a 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  EVARTS  W.  FARR.         49 

• 

brief  return  of  the  old-time  sense  of  hearty  feeling  and  of  that  un 
restrained  personal  and  independent  self-assertion  which  belongs  of 
right  to  the  private  citizen.  Yet  how  soon  the  opening  closes  and 
the  tempest  of  affairs  obscures  the  whole  heavens  once  more. 

We  talk  and  laugh  and  discuss.  We  are  cheerful  and  polite — it 
may  be  bland  and  entertaining.  We  sit  side  by  side;  but  we  are  still 
as  far  apart  as  the  localities  from  which  we  come.  There  is  ever  the 
touch  of  the  hand,  the  glance  of  the  eye,  the  friendly  tone,  and  the 
ready  effort  to  oblige;  yet  after  all  the  real  life  of  the  public  man  is 
between  himself  and  those  who  created  him  by  their  choice.  He  be 
longs  to  them.  He  is  of  them  in  the  truest  and  most  absorbing 
sense,  and  not  of  those  with  whom  he  daily  meets  on  this  conspicu 
ous  scene.  But  there  be  those  like  the  stars  which  illumine  the 
neglected  spaces  of  night,  who,  by  their  select  and  electric  qualities, 
change  the  chilly  formalities  of  public  association  into  the  warmth 
and  sympathy  of  private  life.  These  rare  spirits  are  the  golden  links 
which  connect  us  and  somewhat  cure  our  isolation.  They  give  out 
not  light  alone  but  heat  as  well,  and  while  they  illume  all  things,  they 
also  warm  and  weld  us  together. 

But  alas!  Death,  blind,  cruel,  and  insatiable,  will  tear  even  them 
away  with  no  more  compunction  than  when  he  extorts  the  spirit  of 
the  beast  which  goeth  downward.  He 

Loves  a  shining  mark,  a  signal  blow, 
A  blow  which,  while  it  executes,  alarms 
And  startles  thousands  with  a  single  fall. 

Of  such  a  man,  my  personal  friend  for  twenty  years,  my  associate 
and  companion  in  private  and  in  public  life,  just  stricken  down  in  all 
the  royal  strength  of  forty  years,  while  his  sun  was  high  and  rising 
higher  on  the  pathway,  it  might  well  have  been  to  the  very  zenith  of 
place  and  power,  just  as  he  had  achieved  a  personal  and  political 
triumph  such  as  comes  to  but  few  men  even  in  the  longest  career,  it  is 
my  difficult  but  willing  duty  for  a  few  moments  to  speak  to  you  to-day. 


7    FR 


50  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    BLAIR   ON   THE 

Major  EVARTS  W.  FARR,  a  member  of  the  Forty-sixth  House  of 
Representatives  and  a  member-elect  of  the  Forty-seventh,  from  the 
third  Congressional  district  of  New  Hampshire,  died  at  his  home  in 
Littleton,  in  that  State,  on  the  3oth  day  of  November  last,  aged  forty 
years.  He  was  born  in  the  same  place  on  the  roth  day  of  October, 
1840,  of  one  of  the  largest  and  most  influential  families  in  our  State. 
His  father,  who  survives  the  gifted  son,  filled  many  conspicuous  posi 
tions  in  public  life,  and  through  a  long  course  of  great  activity  and 
usefulness  to  his  fellow-men,  he  was  ever  the  same  intelligent,  up 
right,  and  efficient  gentleman,  who,  for  thirty  years  at  least,  has  been 
known  throughout  New  Hampshire  as  "  Honest  John  Farr,  of  Lit 
tleton." 

The  mother  was  in  every  way  worthy  of  the  father  of  her  boy;  and 
to  one  who  knew  them  all,  it  is  sufficient  eulogy  to  say  that  they 
were  worthy  each  of  the  other.  No  young  man  was  ever  "better 
born,"  in  the  highest  sense,  than  Major  FARR,  and  his  career  has  re 
flected  great  honor  upon  the  family  name. 

Young  FARR  was  of  an  active  and  independent  spirit  from  the  be 
ginning.  When  twelve  years  of  age  he  assumed  the  burden  of  his 
own  support  and  education.  He  secured  the  advantages  of  the  com 
mon  schools  in  his  native  town,  and  after  a  preparatory  course  at  the 
academy  located  in  Thetford,  Vermont,  then  under  the  direction  of 
Professor  Hiram  Orcutt,  and  one  of  the  best  institutions  in  New 
England,  he  entered  Dartmouth  College  with  the  class  which  gradu 
ated  in  1863.  He  was  pursuing  his  studies  there  with  assiduity  and 
great  promise  when  the  country  called  her  sons  to  rebaptize  in  their 
blood  the  sacred  principles  of  liberty  and  to  re-establish  upon  im 
movable  foundations  the  integrity  and  perpetuity  of  her  Constitu 
tion  and  her  laws.  He  was  then  twenty  years  old,  of  stalwart  but 
graceful  form,  with  a  countenance  full  of  animation,  force,  and  beauty. 

That  face  was  the  mirror  of  all  within.  I  well  remember  a  long 
conversation  with  him  while  attending  court  in  Haverhill,  where  he 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    EVARTS    W.    FARR.  51 

chanced  to  be  in  the  early  spring  of  1861,  just  as  the  mutterings  of 
war  became  unmistakable  to  us  in  our  mountain  homes.  We  were 
then  beginning  life;  I  had  just  entered  upon  the  practice  of  the 
law.  He  designed  to  pursue  that  profession  as  soon  as  his  course  of 
study  and  preparation  would  permit.  Our  conversation  lasted  nearly 
through  the  live-long  night,  and  I  desire  to  bear  witness  to  the  mem 
ory  of  my  dead  friend,  that  never  did  man  determine  to  put  aside,  if 
need  be,  the  promise  of  an  apparently  unsullied  future  for  the  untried 
hardships  of  the  camp  and  field,  with  a  more  vivid  sense  of  what  he 
was  to  sacrifice  and  suffer,  or  with  a  loftier  patriotism  and  deeper 
devotion  to  a  stern  sense  of  duty  than  did  EVARTS  W.  FARR.  And 
when  a  little  later  the  summons  echoed  from  the  walls  of  beleaguered 
and  then  of  fallen  Sumter  all  over  the  astonished  North,  he  strode 
among  the  earliest  to  the  field  of  death  and  of  glory  with  motives  as 
pure  and  free  from  sectional  hate,  with  as  knightly  and  exalted  devo 
tion  to  the  ideas  of  country,  liberty,  and  the  good  of  mankind  as 
ever  beat  in  the  bosom  of  Sidney,  or  as  animated  the  fathers  at 
Yorktown,  Cowpens,  or  Bunker  Hill. 

He  served  in  some  of  the  hardest-fought  actions  with  great  bravery 
and  brilliancy,  and  throughout  the  war,  losing  an  arm  at  Williams- 
burgh,  and  receiving  the  fatal  seeds  of  death  in  his  constitution  from 
exposure  in  the  swamps  of  the  Peninsula,  which  ripened  year  by 
year  until  a  casual  cold  fastened  upon  his  waning  powers  and  killed 
him  as  easily  as  though  he  had  been  a  little  child.  On  his  return  to 
civil  life  he  studied  law,  and  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  practiced 
the  profession  unremittingly  and  with  good  success  from  1867  until  his 
election  to  the  Forty-sixth  Congress.  He  was  twice  appointed  prose 
cuting  attorney  for  his  native  county,  and  held  that  office  when  called 
to  service  in  the  halls  of  national  legislation.  During  this  period  also 
he  was  chosen  to  be  a  member  of  the  governor's  council,  after  a  most 
vigorous  canvass,  from  a  strongly  democratic  district,  in  which  but-for 
his  great  personal  popularity  success  would  have  been  impossible. 


52  ADDRESS   OF    MR.    BLAIR   ON   THE 

As  a  lawyer  Major  FARR  was  highly  successful.  His  attainments 
for  one  of  his  years  and  opportunities  were  good.  His  comprehen 
sion  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  law  was  clear  and  strong.  He 
had  an  unfailing  fund  of  good  sense,  which  is  worth  more  to  a  law 
yer  than  knowledge  of  every  case  of  every  court  ever  reported  when 
not  combined  with  that  unfailing  touchstone  of  truth.  He  knew 
what  the  jury  thought  and  could  guide  them  in  his  own  channels  of 
reasoning  to  the  conclusions  in  which  he  believed  himself.  He  had 
little  power  to  make  the  worse  appear  the  better  reason  unless  he  was 
honestly  wrong,  and  he  always  presented  his  cause  with  a  conscien 
tious  conviction  that  he  was  right.  He  had  a  native  love  of  justice 
and  abhorrence  of  wrong.  He  was  a  tower  of  strength  to  the  inno 
cent  and  to  the  cause  he  believed  to  be  just,  but  to  none  other.  He 
was  an  honor  to  the  bar,  and  by  his  high  character  and  conduct  he 
fully  paid  that  difficult  debt  which  every  lawyer  owes  to  his  profession. 

Having  fought  to  preserve  his  country,  he  should  be  excused  for 
manifesting  that  interest  in  preserving  the  results  of  the  national  vic 
tory  which  made  him  a  close  observer  of  events  and  gave  to  his  mind 
a  bias  for  public  life.  His  intelligence,  his  patriotism,  and  popular 
manners  for  years  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the  people,  and  it  had 
long  been  evident  that  at  an  early  period  he  would  be  summoned  to 
the  higher  political  honors  of  his  State.  This  expectation  was  real 
ized  by  his  election  in  a  very  close  district  to  the  other  House. 

Every  one  who  has  experienced  them  knows  the  almost  insur 
mountable  difficulties  which  lie  in  the  way  of  a  new  member  of  a 
great  legislative  body,  especially  if  he  belongs  to  the  minority.  A 
new  member  of  the  majority  has  comparatively  plain  sailing  in  an 
open  sea.  But  short  as  has  been  his  connection  with  the  House, 
only  through  one  regular  session,  Major  FARR  had  become  well 
known  and  was  very  highly  esteemed  by  his  fellow-members,  both 
for  his  ability  and  worth.  He  was  attentive  to  every  duty,  and  he 
understood  what  belonged  to  it  and  how  to  perform  it.  He  was  an 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    EVARTS    W.    FARR.  53 

elegant  speaker,  very  ready  in  debate  and  grew  stronger  every  day. 
I  observed  this  during  the  late  campaign  particularly,  and  believe 
that  had  he  lived  and  continued  in  Congress  long  enough  to  do  jus 
tice  to  himself  and  constituents,  he  would  have  served  his  country 
with  great  efficiency  to  the  pride  of  his  innumerable  friends  and  of 
the  State.  As  it  was,  the  promise  given  of  that  which  might  have 
been  sharpens  a  disappointment  most  grievous  to  be  borne,  even  if 
the  full  fruition  of  accomplishment  could  lend  to  those  who  knew  and 
loved  him  its  most  consoling  power. 

His  stricken  widow  and  the  children  of  their  love  bewail  in  mute 
and  helpless  grief  a  bereavement  which  lacks  none  of  the  terrors  of 
untimely  death,  of  blasted  hopes,  and  of  sweetest  joys,  snatched 
away  in  the  very  hour  of  supreme  realization.  To  this  brave  and 
worthy  woman,  left  to  battle  and  struggle  alone  with  her  burden  of 
woe  through  unusual  obstacles,  and  to  these  fatherless  little  ones, 
some  of  whom  can  hardly  know  their  loss,  a  grateful  country  will 
not  fail  to  extend  the  warmest  sympathy  and  most  grateful  remem 
brance. 

But  I  do  waste  the  time  in  bewailing  his  loss.  His  last  deed  on 
earth  is  done.  His  record  is  complete.  No  blot  is  there.  It  is  pure 
as  the  white  pages  of  the  Book  of  Life.  It  is  like  a  copy  drawn  by 
angel  hands  for  the  imitation  of  those  who  remain  behind.  To  have 
prolonged  his  stay  would  seem  to  have  been  best  for  us  were  he  not 
one  of  the  dead  who  yet  speak  with  power  drawn  from  the  realiza 
tions  of  more  wQrlds  than  one.  His  glory  will  not  fade  nor  will  he 
be  forgotten  until  the  history  of  his  State  is  obliterated.  There  may 
have  been  stronger  men,  but  he  was  strong;  there  may  have  been 
better  men,  but  I  have  not  known  them. 

New  Hampshire  is  not  ashamed  of  her  other  sons.  She  points  to 
them  as  her  jewels.  But  of  none  can  she  more  truly  say  that  he  was 
a  knight  "without  fear  and  without  reproach"  than  of  poor  dead 
FARR,  now  embalmed  in  the  immortal  glory  of  his  own  life,  and 


54  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    BLAIR. 

awaiting  the  reveille  of  the  resurrection  on  the  peaceful  banks  of  the 
wild  Ammonoosuck,  while  the  shadows  of  Mount  Washington  lie 
tenderly  on  his  grave.  There  is  nothing  more  but  to  turn  slowly  and 
sadly  to  the  exacting  realities  of  life,  and  by  imitation  of  his  bright 
example  to  prepare  for  the  inevitable  hour. 

The  PRESIDING  OFFICER.  The  question  is  as  to  agreeing  to  the 
resolutions. 

The  resolutions  were  agreed  to  unanimously. 

Mr.  CONKLING.  Mr.  President,  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  the  deceased,  I  move  that  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  motion-  was  agreed  to,  and  the  Senate  adjourned. 


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